Police are investigating a potential hack of their own information, which had been sent to a research company.
File image. Photo: 123RF
Assistant Commissioner Jevon McSkimming said police had been alerted to the data breach by the company.
The company had reported a breach to police as a crime and the police High Tech Cyber Crime team was investigating, McSkimming said.
The information provided by police to the company included contact details of a selection of people who had interacted with police.
This information was used for surveying police quality of service.
"We are working to understand the scope of the hack and the potential impact of any security breaches of information provided by police," McSkimming said.
"Once we have a better understanding of the real risk to people, and the potential impact, we will look to inform those who may have been affected.
"NZ Police has suspended provision of any further information to the company and surveying until our investigations are complete."