At least 41 members of school staff had credentials captured by malware
A school employee was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly deploying malware on Department of Education (DoE) computers and capturing the personal information of school staff.
The New South Wales Police Force said the man, 28, is an employee at a Sydney school in Matraville.
His arrest follows an investigation by the State Crime Command's Cybercrime Squad in February over reports of malware on computers at a Sydney school.
The malware on the school computers was in various stages of development and deployment, according to the police. At least 41 staff members also had their credentials captured, including their credit card details.
Detectives spoke to the individual on March 4, where they seized a phone and a computer.
According to the police, a forensic examination of the phone revealed that it contained an "amount of child abuse material."
"The material was not linked to the school or any of the students," the police statement read.
The man is now facing charges of: unauthorised modification of data with intent to cause impairment; “possess identity info to commit etc indictable;” “two counts of unauthorised function with intent serious offence (penalty<=10 years),” and possession of child abuse material.
"The Department of Education cyber team have a robust system able to detect these types of offences, and it's through their diligent work that this issue was reported early, and the offender detained quickly," said Detective Superintendent Matt Craft, Commander of State Crime Command's Cybercrime Squad, in a statement.
"Teachers and staff at our schools are in a position of responsibility and privilege; and anyone that abuses that position will be dealt with accordingly by law enforcement."
The individual was granted strict conditional bail and is set to appear in Waverley Local Court on May 8.
