Social services minister orders inquiry into credit card system data breach

The Greens blame outsourcing for the breach, which has affected 8,500 current and former departmental staff

The social services minister, Christian Porter, has ordered an investigation of a data breach affecting 8,500 current and former Department of Social Services employees, whose personal information was left open for more than a year.

The move comes after the Greens blamed outsourcing for the breach in the Business Information Services system which held expenses and credit-card information dating from 2004 to 2015.