Look See privacy breach ‘limited’
The agency behind the Look See Wellington recruitment website says it is working hard to get it back up and running.
Last Thursday, the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) shut down the site following a privacy breach.
The personal details of about 100 information technology experts who applied for free trips to Wellington for job interviews may have been seen by others.
Look See Wellington is aimed at helping boost the number of midand senior-level IT experts in Wellington.
The ratepayer-funded initiative will see 100 jobseekers flown to the capital for job interviews.
On Tuesday, WREDA chief executive Chris Whelan said only a handful of new cases had ‘‘come to light’’ in the feedback from candidates in the past few days.
‘‘In total, we know of about 100 incidents where one user may have seen another user’s registration details,’’ he said.
‘‘With more than 35,000 applicants having used the profile site, this indicates that the issue, while regrettable, is relatively limited in scope.’’
WREDA said the issue stemmed from a software problem, which meant users could potentially view the personal information of others who had registered.
The information could have included personal contact details and attachments. WREDA said no financial information had been requested.
Whelan said the response from participants, applicants and employers had been positive.
‘‘Everybody understands the site issue, and the clear message is that participants are looking forward to the next phase of this hugely popular programme.’’
Look See Wellington, which launched in February, quickly gained global media attention, with publications including Forbes and The Daily Mail writing stories about it.
Thousands of people registered on the site, including some who hold senior roles at major tech brands, including Facebook, Google and Amazon.
WREDA was taking a ‘‘thorough and methodical approach’’ to getting the site back up and running, he said.
‘‘The original error has been identified and removed, and this work has been reviewed by an independent information security consultancy.’’
Further testing was being carried out over the next 24 hours, Whelan said yesterday. He said he hoped to know more details once those tests were completed.
An independent company had been hired to conduct a review of how the error took place, and the findings would eventually be made public.
The Privacy Commissioner and the Government Chief Information Officer had been briefed on the matter.
In the meantime, interest in Look See Wellington remained high. More than 150,000 people had expressed their interest through a separate pre-registration platform since Thursday.
Those people would be able to continue their application once the website had relaunched, Whelan said.
‘‘We’re very excited about … the prospect of bringing some very talented people together.’’
"With more than 35,000 applicants having used the profile site, this indicates that the issue, while regrettable, is relatively limited in scope." Chris Whelan, Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency