Police have strong expectations and policies when it comes to personal data.

Following the breach reported from research company Gravitas we have been unable to get assurances that our information has been kept properly secure and we have begun a process of terminating our contract with them.

Early indications show that the hack, originating in Nigeria, was aimed at obtaining business billing information contained in emails. There is no financial information in the details Police provided to Gravitas.

Police Assistant Commissioner Jevon McSkimming says police have been working hard to understand the potential impact since the breach was discovered two weeks ago.

Police provide Gravitas with a limited amount of information for the purposes of surveying.

"It is our expectation and understanding the information is destroyed after it is used.

"However, we have been unable to confirm the scope of the information compromised.

"We are confident any risk to people is low."

Jevon says most information provided to Gravitas is already in the public domain and consists of names, phone numbers and addresses.

"We also provide a short description for why a person has contacted us e.g. burglary, disturbance, lost property. More serious events are not included."

He says Gravitas is an approved All of Government provider.

Staff at the research company are police vetted and Jevon is confident there are no integrity issues with employees.

'However, we are very disappointed that a breach of this nature has taken place.

"We will continue to work with Gravitas to investigate the matter.

'We want to be clear that this is not an internal breach involving Police systems.

"However, we are reviewing our processes and practises around management of people's information.

'We would also urge businesses to be aware of emails purporting to change bank account numbers, which may indicate that their systems may have been hacked."

Anyone who is concerned or has questions about the data breach can visit our website where Police have set up a page with questions and answers in relation to the incident.

Police urge people to be vigilant and keep safe practices online.