Privacy, Data Protection & Information Management

New ICO guidance for employers responding to data subject access requests

May 24 2023

Noirin M. McFadden and Claude-Étienne Armingaud

Today, the UK data protection regulator, the ICO, has published guidance to assist employers in responding to data subject access requests (“DSARs”) from current and former employees. DSARs have become the primary tool for employees attempting to gain leverage against employers during a dispute or grievance process: they can be extremely time-consuming and resource intensive for employers to deal with, and it is a difficult balance to strike between upholding employees’ right of access under the UK GDPR and applying exemptions from disclosure in an appropriate way.

The new guidance covers issues that often occur when employers try to strike this balance, and notably:

May 05 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

You’ve reached the end of a long week, riddled with proselytising about the importance of being privacy aware and privacy prepared. You get it! You lay your head to a well-earned rest…and like Kate McCallister wake screaming “Privacy Policy”! In true “back-to-basics” fashion, the privacy policy is getting a reboot!

May 04 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Stephanie Mayhew

Given the current privacy reform and cyber threat environment, the question we get asked a lot is – what are the privacy risks that should be assessed in our organisation and how do we prioritise these? Unfortunately this isn’t always a ‘one size fits all’ answer but there are some basic matters you can check as to whether your organisation is considering privacy risks proactively.

May 03 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

The APPs require organisations to “take reasonable steps to implement practices, procedures and systems that ensure compliance with the APPs”. Putting your mind to privacy after a data breach or complaint is very much shutting the stable door after Phar Lap has bolted (good luck getting him back!)

Good privacy management starts with a good privacy culture in your organisation. Recommended steps to develop this include:

May 02 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, and Stephanie Mayhew

With the cyber threat landscape significantly evolving, we are seeing companies – large and small – experience attacks. Recent high-profile attacks have shown that these breaches are alarming, targeting a range of sectors. With millions of Australians more concerned about their privacy than ever before, the federal government is making privacy a priority with the Attorney-General’s Department recently releasing 116 recommendations to amend the Privacy Act. The federal government has also made proposals to consider a new Cyber Security Act and strengthen existing laws around this space.

May 01 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, and Stephanie Mayhew

The theme of this year’s Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) is “back to basics”. It’s fitting to consider some lessons arising from recent high-profile breaches affecting millions of Australians, and the consistent messages we’ve been hearing from the Australian Information Commissioner in the midst of those incidents.

Data breaches can happen to anyone. We know cyberattacks can be big business, and sophisticated criminal networks make a good living from these. And if your organisation has taken reasonable steps to avoid or mitigate such breaches, the fact you’ve encountered one will not, of itself, be held against you.

Apr 27 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

We saw last year how low hackers are willing to stoop to shame companies into paying ransoms, including leaking sensitive information aimed at embarrassing individuals affected by data breaches. As a result we also saw prominent calls for ransom payments to be ‘banned’, to reduce the financial incentives for hackers to target Australians’ personal information.

We are now hearing the flipside to that argument, with AGL Energy warning that a government-imposed ban on companies paying cyber ransoms to hackers could cause “catastrophic damage”.

Apr 21 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

Presumably inspired by the recently released “Honor Among Thieves”, a film based on table-top roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, the Australian government invited representatives from the Reserve Bank, the AFP and regulators ASIC and APRA for a three-hour session of cybersecurity roleplay. Further exercises are expected to be conducted with major banks and financial services, and eventually with the aviation sector and other critical infrastructure areas.

Mar 14 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

Proceedings led by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) against Facebook, Inc. (Facebook) for their role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal will finally proceed in the Federal Court of Australia.

Mar 08 2023

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Stephanie Mayhew and Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid

[Featured image from a linkedin post of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner made on 3 March 2023]

Shortly after the Government announced their ambition to make Australia a global leader in cyber security, Australia has been named the country with “the greatest progress and commitment toward creating a cyber defence environment” in MIT’s Cyber Defence Index of 2022/23.

However, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s latest notifiable data breaches report paints a different picture. The Commissioner reported a 26% increase in the number of total reported data breaches and a 41% increase in the number of reported data breaches arising from malicious or criminal attacks compared with the first half of 2022. Health service providers and the finance sector were the worst hit, together representing almost a third of reported data breaches.

In releasing the report, the Commissioner once again stressed the need for organisations to collect only the minimum amount of personal information required and deleting it when it is no longer needed. In the report the Commissioner has recommended a number of steps to address the kinds of issues featured in the second half of 2022, including:

Category: Privacy, Data Protection & Information Management

Privacy Awareness Week Part V – Return of the Privacy Policy

Privacy Awareness Week Part IV – Privacy Priorities

Privacy Awareness Week Part III- The importance of being privacy prepared

Privacy Awareness Week Part II- Get in the know and get privacy right

Privacy Awareness Week Part I- The state of play

Proposed cyber ransom bans predicted to cause “catastrophic damage”

BANKS AND HACKERS: SECURITY AMONGST ENTITIES

Facebook’s face-off with the OAIC to proceed says High Court of Australia

Good report card but data breaches are up, with no sign of letting up