Clare
CURRAN
Communications and IT Spokesperson

10 April 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

Collins cyberbullies whistle-blowers

Judith Collins has resorted to labelling whistle-blowers as “hackers” and “burglars” in a desperate attempt to distract from her culpability in failing to protect Kiwis’ personal information, Labour’s Communication and IT spokesperson Clare Curran says.

“Judith Collins is behaving like a cyber-bully and attacking whistleblowers, all because she wrongly refused to admit anything was wrong with the Ministry of Justice website.

“The whistleblower who uncovered the unsecured link, which left the personal and financial details of tens of thousands of New Zealanders potentially exposed, was more than willing to talk to Ms Collins or her Ministry.

“But in typical Judith Collins behaviour she resorted to attack. She dubbed the whistleblower a ‘burglar’ and ‘hacker’. With that sort of outburst anyone else who finds a problem with Ms Collins’s ministry won’t be letting her know.

“Despite her outpouring of abuse Judith Collins today had to admit that parts of the Justice website had been shut down following the exposure of the security flaw and that external experts had been brought in to advise about security. If she talked to the whistleblower she would get all the help she needs.

“Judith Collins has form in privacy breaches. She was the Minister responsible for the major ACC breach in 2012 that saw her embroiled in an intra-National Party war so no wonder she’s getting so prickly.

“This is the latest in a disturbingly long line of information technology security flaws and privacy breaches which have seen more than 100,000 people have their private details released. There is clearly a major systemic problem with IT security,” says Clare Curran.

ENDS

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