Security risk over MP emails

POLITICIANS will be banned from sending bulk emails from parliament accounts using third-party software amid security fears, as a Labor MP mistakenly left donation requests and electorate updates public.

Australian Parliament House (APH) email accounts are not able to be used with popular mass-communication services such as Mailchimp, Voter.id or Campaign Monitor from Monday as part of an “ongoing program” to strengthen “security controls”.

It is believed concerns have been raised at the highest levels of the federal government about MPs and staff inadvertently exposing the parliament’s IT system to a cyber attack.

In just one example, Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph was able to access all fundraising requests, communications to branch members and the electorate sent by Labor Macquarie MP Susan Templeman from her APH email using Mailchimp.

Ms Templeman’s Mailchimp account was not locked, meaning a two-month archive of her mass communications could be seen from all over the world.