Personal information of visa holders leaked as a result of a cyber incident in internal affairs

In a recent notice, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed individuals of a serious cybersecurity breach affecting ZircoDATA, the parent company of The Migration Translators (TMT), which operates the Free Transfer Service (FTS). This service allows visa holders to have important personal documents translated into English. Unfortunately, this incident led to the disclosure of personal information of individuals who previously used the Federal Tax Service.

Incident overview

In February 2024, ZircoDATA identified suspicious activity on its network. Following the discovery, the company brought in cybersecurity experts to investigate the issue, which revealed that an unauthorized third party had accessed their files and extracted data. This data was then published on the dark web in March 2024. ZircoDATA initially believed that customers using FTS were not affected. However, upon further investigation, it turned out that documents associated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs containing personal data were indeed compromised.

ZircoDATA notified the department in July 2024, after which immediate steps were taken to inform affected individuals. While the hack did not affect the Home Office’s own systems, ZircoDATA accepted the department’s assistance in notifying affected individuals.

Types of Compromised Information

The breach potentially affected various types of personal information, including:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Contact details (mobile phone number and email address)
• Visa details (application number, visa issue number, delivery date and subclass number)
• Driver’s license information
• Passport details

If you have used FTS and suspect that your information has been compromised, you may contact ZircoDATA at: (email protected) for more details.

ZircoDATA is committed to reviewing any requests for credit monitoring services or reimbursement for replacement of compromised identification documents on a case-by-case basis. Affected individuals are advised to contact ZircoDATA directly at: (email protected) for your help.