Statement from the Aotearoa Tech Union (ATU) on the May 29th 2019 Treasury leak speculation.

We do not know any details about the alleged treasury leak or any data breaches. However some of the reporting around the Treasury breach is concerning the ATU.

The public is being needlessly frightened by the ineffective and inaccurate information being published in the media. Many of the people being approached for comment do not know the basics of information security and will be unable to comment on the details or provide accurate analogies for the public.

We call on politicians to defer to experts when it comes to technical issues, or become better informed before speaking on the matter. Government data protection is extremely important and mistruths about what is involved can unnecessarily cause alarm for the public.

We need more resources dedicated to teachers so that the next generation can grow up with a deeper understanding of technical complexities like data security and privacy. This is one of the many reasons the ATU will #BackTheTeachers in todays strike.