This tracker brings together the public reporting behind North Queensland Cyber Watch. I'm Nicholas O'Sullivan, a Townsville IT professional. The purpose is to make the sources, regional connections and gaps in the evidence easier to find.

Collection assembled 9 October 2026. Each entry shows the date of the account it summarises. These are historical evidence snapshots, not a claim that every investigation has been checked again today. A later company statement may change the picture.

How to read the tracker · Download the collection as CSV · Regional guides and resources

Cyber Watch source index: 8 entries. Scroll horizontally on smaller screens.

Date and basis	Organisation	Location and scope	Industry	Incident type	Evidence status	Source	Article
17 August 2026 Claim date reported in the article	Westco Motors Cairns	Cairns Regional organisation	Automotive	Ransomware and data theft allegation	Claimed Threat actor claim and samples described by Cyber Daily; no company confirmation identified in the August article. Account dated 24 August 2026	Cyber Daily, 24 August 2026	Read the westco motors account
August 2026 Disclosure month; exact intrusion date not established here	Oz Hair & Beauty	National platform; Townsville retail connection National platform with regional relevance	Retail	Unauthorised access to customer order data	Confirmed Company statement confirms access to limited customer information; a regional victim count and the larger dataset claims are not established. Account dated 21 August 2026	Company incident statement	Read the oz hair beauty account
13 August 2026 ASX announcement date	Nick Scali	National systems; Townsville, Cairns and Mackay retail connection National platform with regional relevance	Retail	Security incident and systems taken offline	Confirmed incident; data theft unconfirmed in cited notice ASX notice confirms the incident and disruption, but says the company had no evidence of unauthorised customer-data access at that time. Account dated 14 August 2026	ASX announcement, 13 August 2026	Read the nick scali account
28–30 June 2026 Incident window in the College notice reproduced in the article	Townsville Christian College	Townsville Regional organisation	Education	Ransomware; unauthorised network access and encryption	Confirmed College notice describes the attack. Potential exposure of information does not establish that every record was stolen. Account dated 2 August 2026	College notice, retained image	Read the townsville christian college account
June 2026 Incident month covered in the article	Mackay Sugar	Mackay region Regional organisation	Sugar and agriculture	Cyber incident affecting operations; ransomware reported	Confirmed incident; ransomware attribution reported Company notice confirms an incident and response. Ransomware attribution and detailed mill and grower impacts come from secondary reporting. Account dated 19 June 2026	Mackay Sugar incident notice	Read the mackay sugar account
June 2026 Notification month; forwarding predates disclosure	Townsville Catholic Education	Townsville / North Queensland Regional organisation	Education	Corporate email forwarded to personal accounts	Confirmed Organisation published an eligible data breach notification. This was a disclosure risk from forwarding, not a confirmed malicious intrusion. Account dated 3 July 2026	TCE eligible data breach notification	Read the townsville catholic education account
6 June 2026 Townsville Bulletin publication date	Strand Fitness North Shore members / third-party-held information	Burdell, Townsville Regional connection; third-party data	Fitness	Personal information breach involving a third party	Reported; police and business statements quoted The Bulletin quotes police and the gym confirming an incident. Detailed exposure claims remain dependent on that reporting; the gym is not accused of wrongdoing. Account dated 30 August 2026	Townsville Bulletin, 6 June 2026 (subscription)	Read the burdell gym account
May 2026 Disclosure month covered in the article	Instructure Canvas / regional education users	Global platform; Townsville and Queensland school connections Global platform with regional relevance	Education technology	Learning platform breach and extortion claims	Breach reported; institution list unverified Local reporting describes government and school responses. The threat actor list is not proof that every named institution or record was affected. Account dated 13 May 2026	Townsville Bulletin (subscription)	Read the canvas account

How to read the tracker

Confirmed means the organisation's notice confirms the described incident, within the limits stated. Reported identifies attributed journalism, including statements quoted by a publication. Claimed identifies an allegation, including a threat actor's claim, that the cited account has not established as a confirmed breach. An incident can be confirmed while its cause, attribution or alleged data theft remains unconfirmed.

The date column identifies whether it is an incident window, disclosure date or report date. It does not silently substitute an article's publication date for the day an attack happened. Month-only dates mean this collection does not establish a more precise date.

One row represents an incident covered by this series, not one victim, one city or one successful attack. National and global platform incidents are labelled separately from incidents at regional organisations. A retailer having a regional store does not establish how many local customers were affected. Repeated reporting about the same incident belongs in the existing row.

The initial collection covers Townsville, Cairns and Mackay connections. It has no dedicated incident entry yet for Rockhampton, Mount Isa or the Whitsundays. Missing entries reflect the limits of this collection, not evidence that those places have had no incidents. It cannot support a city risk ranking, a trend in attack frequency or an estimate of total regional losses.

Sources, updates and corrections

The table links to company notices where the articles provide them and to attributed reporting otherwise. Some reporting requires a subscription; the College notice is a retained image already reproduced in its article. The linked articles carry fuller context. No stolen datasets or criminal leak sites are linked here.

For a correction or a new public source, contact me with the entry, the source and what it changes. Please do not send personal records or stolen material. Updates should retain the distinction between the original account and later findings.

When citing an entry, link to its organisation row using the permanent fragment, for example Mackay Sugar, and include the account date and your access date. Cite the original source for the underlying incident facts. This index is compiled by Nicholas O'Sullivan; see the editorial disclaimer for disclosure and reuse information.

Read the Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton guides for regional context.