The firm said an unauthorised access of Iress’ user space on GitHub was detected on 11 May. GitHub is a third-party code repository platform which manages software code before it goes live but no client information is stored on the platform.
In a statement, the firm said: “Iress restricted access to GitHub immediately upon discovery and commenced a rapid investigation. There is no evidence that client data has been compromised as a result of this issue. There is also no evidence that Iress’ production or client software has been compromised.
“Iress has now commenced a process of strengthening access and security protocols out of an abundance of caution.”
The firm reassured clients that it does not anticipate any disruption to its business or to clients’ ability to use Iress software and systems.
It said it made the statement “in the interest of transparency” to its stakeholders and that is unable to discuss the nature of the unauthorised access at this time.
“The company takes information security extremely seriously and has notified relevant authorities.”
Earlier this year, the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ bi-annual AICD Director Sentiment Index for the first half of 2024 of over 1,000 directors found over half of financial services directors are concerned about cyber crime and data security (57 per cent) compared to 43 per cent of directors overall.
Tying into this, 55 per cent of financial services companies said the threat of a cyber attack is impacting the risk appetite of their board compared to 45 per cent of overall directors.
