Dramatic moment heavily armed police storm the home of an alleged hacker accused of stealing thousands secret documents

By NICK WILSON FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 13:17 BST, 23 April 2025 | Updated: 18:14 BST, 23 April 2025

An alleged hacker has been charged with a string of offences weeks after almost 9000 sensitive court documents were accessed in a major data breach.

The 38-year-old man was arrested after cybercrime detectives stormed a Maroubra home in Sydney’s east on Wednesday morning. 

Dramatic footage of the early morning raid showed heavily armed police escorting a handcuffed man from the home. 

The alleged hacker attempted to conceal his face with a sweatshirt before being forced to empty his pockets as he was bundled into the back of a paddy wagon. 

The footage also showed police scanning several hard drives after two laptops were allegedly seized during Wednesday’s raid.

The man was charged with accessing or modifying restricted data held in computer, as well as use of carriage service to cause harm.

He was refused bail to appear in Waverley Local Court on Thursday. 

A man was arrested in Maroubra on Wednesday morning nearly a month after thousands of court documents were accessed without authorisation

Heavily armed police stormed the Maroubra home in Sydney’s east on Wednesday morning

Strike Force Amherst was established to investigate the unauthorised access to 8,769 restricted documents held by the NSW DCJ Online Registry during a two month period from January 29 to March 20.

The registry is administered by the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and contains information relating to civil and criminal cases across the state.

Strike force detectives worked closely with state and commonwealth agencies to identify the source of the compromise as an account linked to a registered user 

Legal experts raised concerns the documents, if made public, could endanger victims of domestic violence.  

At the time the breach, Attorney General Mark Daley said the department and police were taking the ‘significant’ breach seriously. 

He said the DCJ’s cyber unit first detected the breach during ‘routine maintenance’ when they discovered data had been changed. 

It soon became clear to technicians an account holder had gained unlawful access to the system allowing them to access the nearly 9,000 files. 

The man was denied bail to appear in Waverley Local Court on Thursday after being charged with a raft of offences

The man was charged with accessing or modifying restricted data held in computer, as well as use of carriage service to cause harm.

The DCJ recently released a statement claiming no data had been made public as a result of the breach. 

‘DCJ is now assessing the documents involved and will contact affected individuals as quickly as possible,’ it said. 

Acting Attorney-General Ron Hoenig has assured residents that no personal information had been detected online or on the dark web and no one protected by apprehended violence orders were identified as being at increased risk of harm.

‘The matter is now contained and the system is stable,’ he said.

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Dramatic moment heavily armed police storm the home of an alleged hacker accused of stealing thousands secret documents

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