Practical tips for protecting information and systems

Cyber incidents are increasing in frequency across all sectors including charities and not-for-profits. As a result, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre is encouraging charities and not-for-profit organisations to protect their information and systems. The steps that these organisations can take are the same steps that all types of organisations can take – …
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OAIC Notifiable Data Breaches Report: Addressing third-party cyber risks 

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) recently released its latest notifiable data breaches report for July to December 2023, highlighting the continued risks of data breaches faced by organisations and third-parties. This is underscored by the notable increase in the volume of reported data breaches, increasing 19% since the previous reporting period.

New proposed digital identification laws

In recent weeks the Australian Government introduced legislation (the Digital ID Bill) to establish a regulatory regime for the accreditation of digital identification providers. Overall, the Digital ID Bill aims to give Australians secure and effective ways in which to verify their identify for use in online transactions with government and business.

Australian Government’s 2023 – 2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy

On 22 November 2023, the Australian Government released its 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy (the Strategy). The Strategy aims to realise the Australian Government’s vision of becoming a world leader in cyber security by 2030. The Strategy seeks to protect Australians by improving cyber security, managing cyber risks, and better supporting Australians and organisations to manage …
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Full steam ahead – upcoming amendments to the Privacy Act

On 16 February 2023, the Attorney-General’s Department released its highly anticipated Privacy Act Review Report 2022 (Report). The Report considers whether the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) remains fit for purpose in this digital economy where the personal information of individuals is collected and used for a myriad of purposes. Change to ‘personal information’ A major expected change …
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Keep ahead of data breaches

It seems like every other day we see another media release about an organisation affected by a data breach, compromising the personal information of Australians. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) Notifiable Data Breaches Report: July to December 2022 shows that during this period, data breaches resulting from malicious or criminal attacks accounted …
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Privacy by design: A call to action

Griffin Legal endorses the ‘privacy by design’ approach, whereby agencies proactively embed good privacy practices into the design of new technology, practices and infrastructure. It remains important that evolving and adapting agencies keep privacy at the forefront of their minds. A privacy impact assessment (PIA) is a good way to build up privacy. What is …
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Do you know your data breach responsibilities under the Privacy Act? Notifications are down by 16%!

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) regularly publishes reports on data breaches that have been reported to the commission under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. This scheme was established in 2018 to improve protection of identifiable consumer information and improve the security standards for protecting personal information.  Under the scheme, any organisation covered …
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