The personal details of around 80,000 South Australian public sector workers have been accessed in a cyber attack. 

The South Australian government says an attack on its payroll software, Frontier, has left between 38,000 and 80,000 workers vulnerable, and that workers “should assume” their personal information has been accessed. 

The hacked data includes names, birthdates, tax file numbers, home addresses, bank account details, remuneration and superannuation contributions.

“I am advised all public sector employees, except for Department of Education staff who are on a different payroll system, should assume that their personal information has been accessed during Frontier Software's cyber attack,” State Treasurer Rob Lucas said.

“On behalf of the Government, I once again apologise to those employees affected and will ensure they continue to be kept informed as our investigation with Frontier Software continues.”

The SA Government says it is working with the tax office to add additional security measures, and asking banks to increase safeguards for employees’ bank accounts.

It also says it has alerted the public sector superannuation scheme and notified the state government's salary sacrifice provider.

Additionally, it has added new controls to the payroll service to validate changes made or requests for employees' personal details.

The state's Privacy Committee, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Federal Police have been informed about the cyber attack.

Government employees have been advised to contact their financial institutions and change their passwords.

Public Service Association of SA general secretary Nev Kitchin said the government should “do everything possible to minimise the effects of this security breach”.

“We expect the state government to take all possible steps to review its cyber security measures in order to prevent such an event in the future,” Mr Kitchin said.