THE Perth Mint has launched an investigation after a ‘data breach’ of customer information held by a third-party provider.

Chief executive of the Perth Mint, Richard Hayes, said the data breach involved 13 depository online customers.

The Mint’s initial investigation has determined that the breach was data taken from information held by a third-party provider.

The breach came to the Mint’s attention on Wednesday and it has since confirmed that all investments remain secure and unaffected.

Mr Hayes said they are in process of contacting customers whose data has been accessed.

“We identified the potential breach on Wednesday this week and immediately began a comprehensive forensic investigation to verify the nature and extent of the breach,” he said.

“We are working with the external third-party provider to understand how this breach occurred and have taken steps to remediate the identified threat.”

The Perth Mint is working with WA Police and the Australian Federal Police, as well as the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

“We sincerely regret any distress caused by the misconduct of these unlawful individuals who are responsible for this breach,” Mr Hayes said.

“We have assured these customers that their investments remain safe and secure. The Perth Mint has also provided advice to these customers to prevent their personal information from being misused.

“We are very disappointed this has occurred but can assure our customers that our systems remain secure and that there is no threat to their account holdings.”