Cybersecurity giant Symantec plays down unreported breach of test data

Hacker accessed passwords and list of purported clients, including Australian government agencies - but company says these were only demonstration accounts

The American cybersecurity giant Symantec has downplayed a data breach that allowed a hacker to access passwords and a purported list of its clients, including large Australian companies and government agencies.

The list extracted in the February incident, seen by Guardian Australia, suggests that all major federal government departments were among the targets of a hacker who also claimed to be responsible for Medicare data being available for sale on the dark web.