A corruption investigation has revealed a staff member in the office that audits every WA government department accessed and downloaded highly confidential information about all of the state's 8,800 police officers.

Key points: The information would have high value to organised crime, the CCC found

The information would have high value to organised crime, the CCC found Payroll details of staff including the auditor-general were also accessed

Payroll details of staff including the auditor-general were also accessed One auditor allegedly deliberately destroyed a storage device

The information, dating back to 2015, included the officers' names and addresses and was labelled a "startling" revelation by the state's corruption watchdog.

The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) tabled a report in State Parliament today outlining how the staff member at the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) stored the information on a spreadsheet on a laptop computer for years after completing an audit of the WA Police Force.

The report said there was no evidence the police data was shared, but that did not lessen the seriousness of the incident.

"The misconduct risk is real and its value to organised crime could be immense," the report said.

The concern was echoed by the WA Police Union, which said it was "furious" the private personal data of its members had been exposed, describing it as "a betrayal of trust".

Union president Harry Arnott said the breach put the union's members at "significant risk".

"The community, including our members, puts its faith and trust in Parliament and the actions of individuals identified in this report removes that instantaneously," he said.

"It is our belief the potential ramifications of this blunder equates to serious misconduct itself and the CCC need to investigate how this information was shared in the first instance."

Payroll details of audit staff accessed

The incident was not the only one uncovered by the CCC.

The investigation also found the same staff member and a colleague, who were both certified practising accountants, were able to access confidential information including the payroll details and bank accounts of other OAG workers, including the auditor-general herself.

The report said the information accessed by one of the employees included the auditor-general's credit card statement and records of her meeting notes with other government department heads.

The CCC found the police details could have "immense" value to organised crime. ( ABC News: Adam Haynes )

Some of the material was found collated in a document folder on his personal computer.

"His consistent explanation was that the information was available to everyone to see and he did not think it was inappropriate at that point in time," the report found.

"That explanation is difficult to accept."

The CCC said it accepted the staff member was "under extreme stress due to issues of a personal nature" at the time and that he had not acted with a corrupt intention.

But it said his actions illustrated the serious misconduct risk that existed when confidential information was stored without proper controls and restrictions on access.

Storage device deliberately destroyed: CCC

No finding of misconduct was found against either of the employees, but the CCC described their actions as "naive and silly in the extreme".

A finding of serious misconduct was made against one employee, Yusoof Ariff, who the CCC found deliberately destroyed a portable storage device when he was asked to return it.

He claimed he did what he did because he was angry at the time, but the watchdog said "there [was] another more sinister explanation possible".

"Mr Ariff destroyed the IronKey because he did not want an examination of what had been stored on it, what had been done with the data from it," the report found.

"The Commission is unable to determine whether the true purpose was anger, concealment, or something else.

"Regardless, Mr Ariff acted to destroy the IronKey in order to cause a detriment to the OAG, both by loss of the device itself … and the data it held (which is unknown and therefore immeasurable)."

The CCC report found a storage device was deliberately destroyed by an auditor under investigation.

The CCC described all the revelations as "startling".

"OAG has independence of action and is responsible for auditing the finances and actions of all departments of government, state and local," the report said.

"It should be trusted to keep information confidential."

CCC Commissioner John McKechnie told 6PR Radio the OAG should be an example to all government departments, which he said held "enormous" amounts of data about all West Australians.

"Every government department needs to, I think, urgently examine its security settings to make sure that information is kept confidential," he said.

Pressure to suppress CCC report

In its response to the CCC, the OAG said it took immediate remedial action after the incidents were uncovered.

But the CCC recommended all public authorities consider reviewing their policies on how they secured confidential information and that they ensured regular internal checks were conducted to identify and deter unauthorised access and disclosures.

The OAG had not wanted the CCC to make its report public, saying it had concerns the matter would impact on its ability to fulfil its purpose.

It also said it believed any publicity would cause undue angst among serving police officers.

WA Police Union president Harry Arnott welcomed the report's release. ( ABC News: Alisha O'Flaherty )

But the CCC decided it was in the public interest for the report to be published.

"Parliament, of which the Auditor General is an independent officer, is entitled to know there is a misconduct risk in that office," the report said.

"Moreover, this report is a misconduct risk report for the benefit of all public authorities so that their individual data management risks may be evaluated, and where necessary, mitigated."

Mr Arnott also praised the CCC's decision to make the report public.

"Our members have a right to know the security of their private and personal information was breached."

Police Minister Michelle Roberts said the breach was "significantly worrying".

"Clearly the Office of the Auditor General should have had measures in place to ensure this did not occur," she said.

"In the wrong hands this could have put police officers' lives at risk.

"I'll be seeking an assurance that the appropriate systems are put in place to prevent this ever happening again."

Opposition Police Spokesman Peter Katsambanis called for a "full and open inquiry" into how the personal details of police were able to be accessed.

"How did it get placed onto that computer, where else has it been disseminated to and how can we be confident, 100 per cent, that it hadn't got into the wrong hands?" he said.

Mr Katsambanis said he had been contacted by officers who were concerned for the safety of themselves and their families.

He said the Government needed to reassure police officers about what steps had been taken to find out where the information had ended up and ensure all police officers were protected.

"Every police officer in this state needs and deserves us to have their back, not to have this sort of information spread out there," he said.