The Privacy Commissioner and the Immigration Department have launched investigations into how details of thousands of asylum seekers in Australia were inadvertently made accessible online.

The breach could potentially see thousands of asylum seekers in Australia who were previously ineligible for refugee status have their claims validated, one legal expert says.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asylum-seeker-data-bungle-thousands-could-be-granted-refugee-status-20140219-330ai.html#ixzz2toeJezfV