Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is demanding answers from his department over an "unacceptable" security breach in which the personal details of asylum seekers were made available online.

Department of Immigration secretary Martin Bowles has ordered a review into the lapse which saw the information of up to 10,000 adults and children in Australian immigration detention inadvertently made available.

The database included their full names, nationalities, location in Australia, arrival date and their boat arrival information, according to the Guardian.

Mr Morrison says the information was available for several days but it was not easily accessible.

"I should stress this information was not put up with a 'click here for people's personal details'," he told ABC News 24.

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"It was a link that could have been accessed with other software that would have to be downloaded. It wasn't a very simple process to access this information."

Mr Morrison says the disclosure appears to have been inadvertent and KPMG will carry out the review to be delivered next week.

"As part of that investigation the department has tasked KPMG to review all data publications and to ensure that proper mechanisms will be in place to make sure it doesn't happen again," Mr Morrison said in a statement.

Potential for disciplinary action to be taken

The statement also says Mr Morrison has asked Mr Bowles to keep him informed of any "disciplinary measures" that may be taken as a result of the breach.

"The information was never intended to be in the public domain, nor was it in an easily accessible format within the public domain," Mr Morrison said.

"This is a serious breach of privacy by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection."

Mr Morrison has also welcomed a separate investigation to be carried out by Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim, who says he has been assured the information is no longer publicly available.

"This is a serious incident and I will be conducting an investigation into how it occurred," Mr Pilgrim said in a statement.

"As part of this investigation, the department has undertaken to provide me with a detailed report into the incident.

"Further, the OAIC [Office of the Australian Information Commissioner] will be working with the department to make sure they are fully aware of their privacy obligations and to ensure that incidents of this nature will not be repeated."

In a statement, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection says "this information was never intended to be in the public domain".

"The department acknowledges that the file was vulnerable to unauthorised access," the department stated.

"The file has been removed and the department is investigating how this occurred to ensure that it does not happen again."

The Guardian says the database listed every single person held in a mainland detention facility, on Christmas Island, or in a community detention program.

Asylum seeker files release of 'enormous concern': Opposition

Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the mistake is of "enormous concern".

"This appears to be one of the most significant breaches of privacy in Australia's history," he said.

"This is a government with a culture of secrecy, but it is utterly unable to manage secrecy."

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young says Mr Morrison needs to take action to protect the asylum seekers.

"This breach of security makes a mockery of [Prime Minister] Tony Abbott's obsession with secrecy," she said.

"The minister needs to clarify how this occurred, how he will stop it from happening again and how he will ensure that the thousands of asylum seekers whose lives have now been put at risk will be protected because of this huge security breach."

The database included a "large number" of children, the Guardian says.

In the report, the Guardian says it has decided not to identify the location of the data.

The Immigration Department has previously argued against the release of personal information, saying it could put asylum seekers at risk.