Simmering anger from firies over cyber attack details

Two years on from a cyber attack firefighters say their systems are not fully restored and they still do not know if their information was leaked.

Victoria's fire service says it continues to update the workforce about a cyber attack, but  the firefighting union is fuming, saying it is still in the dark over the incident in 2022.

The attack left the FIRECOM firefighting information system offline for a year and resulted in the rostering system being replaced by an Excel spreadsheet, station officer and United Firefighters Union representative Doug Lukic said.

"Nearly two years on, we still don't have all systems restored," Mr Lukic told AAP on Thursday.

"Because we work in such a high-risk and dynamic environment, it's crucial for the safe systems of work and the safety of our personnel that incident controllers and commanders understand what appliances are on scene."

United Firefighters Union
A union is angry Fire Rescue Victoria will do a presentation about the cyber attack at a conference.

Individual firefighters still didn't know if their information had been compromised in the hack despite requesting an update from Fire Rescue Victoria more than a year ago, Mr Lukic said.

Fire Rescue Victoria has denied it is keeping firefighters in the dark about the cyber attack.

"Fire Rescue Victoria kept its people informed during the response to the 2022 cyber attack and continues to do so, including via regular video updates to staff – as recently as this week," a spokesman said in a statement.

Mr Lukic said those updates failed to address firefighters' concerns.

"We still haven't had the first question that was asked back in 2022 answered," he said.

"What's happened with our data? Where is it? There was nothing at all that's been acknowledged or information provided in that respect."

Fire Rescue Victoria chief information officer Chris Moon will give a presentation on the attack at a conference on Thursday, which union secretary Peter Marshall said put paid attendees before firies.

“It is beyond unacceptable the C-level executive in charge of information security has chosen to deliver the inside story of this cyber attack to a paying audience rather than sharing information with the people who were affected by it," Mr Marshall said.

“They have a right to know what happened, who is responsible, whose information was exposed."

The fire rescue spokesman said Mr Moon's presentation was about the first 48 hours of the cyber attack and any lessons learnt by the organisation.

The stoush comes amidst continuing industrial talks between firefighters and the service, as the state's emergency workers including police, public services officers and paramedics continue fight for better pay and conditions in their sectors.

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