ABS controls fail to trigger insider alert

THE Australian Bureau of Statistics has admitted it is difficult to counter the threat of a trusted insider leaking market-sensitive information.

Former ABS public servant Christopher Russell Hill, 24, of Belconnen in the ACT is facing criminal charges over his role in an alleged $7 million insider trading operation.

Police allege Hill gave market-sensitive information to his university friend, National Australia Bank associate director Lukas Kamay.

Kamay, 26, allegedly used the labour force, retail and trade figures, which had yet to be publicly released, to predict fluctuations in the Australian dollar.

The activity generated about $7 million in profits between August 2013 and May this year.

At a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, ABS acting statistician Jonathan Palmer defended security protocols in place, describing the breach as unprecedented in the bureau's 100-year history.

"Fortunately in this case police were clear that this person acted alone," he said.

"That gives me some level of confidence."

The bureau has recruited Belinda Gibson, former deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, to conduct a review.

Staff must sign undertakings and declarations when they begin employment to show they are aware they risk jail if they leak sensitive information.

Mr Palmer said there were strict access controls on sensitive information and the bureau reviews access logs.

The hearing was told the bureau's procedures did not trigger any alerts to the alleged criminal behaviour.

Mr Palmer said Hill had been a trusted insider.

"It's a very difficult threat to counter," he said.

"If someone has a trusted need to access the number and they only have to leak an aggregate number or communicate in some obscure way that the number is contrary to market expectations, there's no requirement for them to take [numbers] out of the building."

He said staff were not allowed access to their mobile phones in lock-ups but that control measure did not extend to the office.

Labor senator Mark Bishop asked whether it was possible to have a staff lock-up between the data being finalised and then released to the market in order to restrict access to phones and computers.

He pointed to the Canberra press gallery's six hour budget lock-up as an example.

But Mr Palmer said that was not practical because sometimes data reports were completed days in advance.

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