An alleged hacker hid his face and remained silent as he walked from police cells accused of accessing almost 9000 restricted files on the nation's largest online court-filing system.
The NSW JusticeLink system allows lawyers, police, and businesses to upload sworn statements, identity information and other files for the 400,000-plus court cases filed each year.
A registered account was used to illegally access 8769 documents containing sensitive data from late January.
Justice department officials detected the incident in March and spent days analysing the extent of the unlawful access before police were notified.
The intruder's account was blocked on March 20.
Christopher John Duff, 38, was arrested in Sydney's east yesterday and charged with accessing or modifying restricted data held in a computer.
He faced Waverley Local Court today and was granted bail with strict conditions including that he report to police every day.
Under the restrictions, the alleged hacker is only allowed to possess one 'dumb phone' that can only be used for calling and texting.
Duff was also banned from approaching any international departure point including Circular Quay.
A $1000 surety will be surrendered to the court if he fails to comply with his bail conditions.
Duff covered his face with a jumper and refused to answer questions from reporters as he rushed out of Waverley Police Station into a waiting Tesla.
After the arrest, senior government minister Ron Hoenig assured NSW residents the breach was contained and no personal information had been detected online or on the dark web.
No one protected by apprehended violence orders had been identified as being at increased risk of harm, he said.
Duff also faces unrelated charges of intimidation and using a carriage service to harass related to incidents in December 2020.
He will return to court on May 7.
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