Email Security Breach
Dear Patients,
This notice is to inform you that Raymond Terrace Family Practice has recently been affected by an email security incident, where an unknown third party briefly gained access to one of our email accounts and used that account to send a mass spam email on 3 June 2026 (Incident).
Upon becoming aware of the Incident, we immediately secured the affected account and engaged specialist IT experts to investigate and contain the Incident. The Incident was promptly contained and additional security measures were implemented to prevent a recurrence.
Our investigation has not identified any evidence that patient personal information was accessed, exfiltrated or misused as a result of the Incident, however, in the interests of transparency, we have voluntarily notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and are working with specialist privacy advisers to ensure we continue to meet our legal and privacy obligations.
As a precaution, we recommend remaining vigilant and taking the steps outlined below to protect yourself.
- Be alert to any suspicious emails, SMS or telephone communications that are disguised to look like they come from someone you know or trust (or give the appearance of having knowledge of your circumstances). Verify the legitimacy of communications by authenticating the sender. This includes checking email names and domains.
- Do not open links that look suspicious. If you are unsure about a link sent to you by a company, you should go to the company’s website and look for the product or service that was offered.
- Be alert to phishing scams. This could include scams that target you through post or email. Phishing scams are attempts by scammers to trick people into providing their personal information, passwords, credit card numbers and/or sensitive personal information.
- If appropriate, ensure that you have up-to-date anti-virus software and any recommended software patches installed on your computer systems.
- You can find further information about online safety, cyber security and helpful tips at https://www.cyber.gov.au/protect-yourself or Scamwatch at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/.
- Additional general resources on identity and cyber security support can be found here: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/data-breaches/data-breach-support-and-resources/ | https://www.idcare.org/ | https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/act-now-stay-secure
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at kennedy@rtfp.com.au