It is still unclear just what detail has been accessed and what, if anything, the hacker intended to use it for.

The best case scenario for the City of Ballarat is that, as has been suggested to this newspaper, the hacker was a computer-savvy teen who took his skills too far.

The City is quietly confident that the infiltration was not a malicious act by someone with intent to use the information to do harm.

Both scenarios will likely be examined by police who are investigating the breach.

Meanwhile, the City has been thrown into chaos and its customers left in limbo as the computer system is shut down and reconfigured.

It won't be functional again until next week.

The incident will undoubtedly prompt a significant review of the council's security procedures.

The council has said that access to the system was gained through a third party provider and not directly through its network.

Even so, the fact that someone can hack into the council's network at all is concerning.

There is a large amount of confidential information stored on computers around the world.

Despite the best efforts of those who develop computer programs, there is never any guarantee that a system can be 100 per cent safe from infiltration.

Hackers enjoy the challenge of breaking through the most complicated of systems.

The City knows that all to well now and will be keen to prevent a repeat. An incident such as that seen this week refocuses us on just how easy it is for information to fall into the wrong hands.

Like the City, ratepayers will be seeking to understand how the hacker accessed the system and will provisions will be put in place to minimise the risk in the future.

While the incident has been (and continues to be) a nuisance for the City of Ballarat, it could have been a lot worse.