Sharon Webb

A HUNT among Meander Valley Council staff to find a potential online leaker of information to the Gazette has found nothing.

General manager John Jordan told the April meeting ‘There is no evidence people outside the council have penetrated our security defences.’

After the Gazette published a story in its March edition about the sudden resignation of business recovery manager Neil Grose, Cllr Michael Kelly asked the general manager about possible leaks by council staff or its computer system.

‘Is the council aware of any employee other than the general manager that has provided internal information relating to the employee’s resignation to the Meander Valley Gazette?’

Cllr Kelly also asked ‘Is there appropriate IT security in place for council emails and if so, is there any evidence to suggest people outside of the council have viewed confidential employee-related information and provided that to the Gazette’.

Mr Jordan replied, ‘Analysis of the email logs by the IT officer shows no indication of compromise or suspicious activity’.

But Mr Jordan said he did not discount the possibility of ‘inappropriate sharing of information by verbal or other non-electronic forms of communication’.

‘There is appropriate security in place for the council email system including firewall to filter internet traffic, email filtering for spam emails, blocking of known relay agents and regular patching of the email server’, he said.

‘Recent compromises in the federal parliament and media organisations highlight the need for a continual review of security practices and measures and information security in general. Such reviews are periodically undertaken by the council’s IT staff and contractors.’

Cllr Kelly said his question had not only been prompted by the Gazette’s speedy knowledge of Mr Grose’s resignation but by ‘weird emails’.

‘Over the past few months I have been receiving weird emails that appear as if they’re coming from the mayor, and I think other councillors have had the same’, he said.

The editor of the Meander Valley Gazette, Liz Douglass, said it was ridiculous to think the Gazette would hack the council’s computer system.

‘It is also insulting to suggest that the paper would jeopardise the employment of council staff by seeking confidential information from them.’