admin – Page 19 – Cyber Law Watch

Sharing of ‘abhorrent violent material’ now an offence under new laws

May 09 2019

By Cameron Abbott, Michelle Aggromito and Rebecca Gill

Governments around the world are imposing more responsibilities on tech providers to deal with online harms. In response to the recent attacks in Christchurch, in which a gunman livestreamed on Facebook his attack on a mosque, the Australian Government recently enacted the Criminal Code Amendment (Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Act 2019 (Cth) (Act). The Act, which commenced on 6 April 2019, was pushed through swiftly and has a broad reach.

Under the Act, internet, content and hosting service providers must refer details of any ‘abhorrent violent material’ that records or streams ‘abhorrent violent conduct’ to the Australian Federal Police. Abhorrent violent material is material that is audio, visual or audio-visual, and that records or streams ‘abhorrent violent conduct’. Such conduct includes acts of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, torture, rape and kidnapping.

Consumer Data Right Draft Rules – submissions closing soon

May 06 2019

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Rebecca Gill

The deadline for submissions on the ACCC’s draft Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data) Rules 2019 (Draft Rules) is fast approaching. The ACCC is seeking feedback from community organisations, businesses and consumers on the approach and positions of the Draft Rules for the Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime until this Friday, 10 May 2019.

Key aspects of the Draft Rules (which are available on the ACCC’s website) include:

the three ways in which CDR data may be requested;
the requirements for consent to collect CDR data;
rules relating to the accreditation process; and
rules relating to the thirteen privacy safeguards for CDR data.

Scammers are becoming more tech-savvy according to the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report

Apr 30 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Rebecca Gill

Australian businesses and consumers were duped into paying scammers with nearly half a billion dollars in 2018 according to the ACCC’s Targeting Scams: Report of the ACCC on scam activity 2018 (Report). The Report also highlights the use of sophisticated technology by scammers.

According to the Report, the most financially harmful scam affecting Australian businesses was the ‘business email compromise’ (BEC) scam. This involved a scammer gaining access to a business’s entire email or IT system. The scammer would then impersonate the business and send emails to suppliers and customers of the business, advising changes to payment details.

REPORT FINDS MORE THAN HALF OF RANSOMWARE VICTIMS WOULD PAY THE RANSOM

Apr 18 2019

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Rebecca Gill

Telstra’s 2019 Security Report has found that majority of the respondents who have been victims of ransomware attacks have paid the attackers to unlock files. Many of these respondents successfully retrieved their data after paying the ransom.

Of the 320 Australian respondents, 51 per cent said that they had paid ransomware attackers to regain access to encrypted files. Further, the Report found that 77 per cent of Australian businesses that had paid a ransom were able to retrieve their data after making the payment. Whilst this was the lowest rate of data retrieval post-payment out of the 13 countries in the survey, 79 per cent of the Australian respondents still said that they would pay the ransom again if they had no back-up files available.

PROPOSAL TO INCREASE PENALTIES FOR PRIVACY BREACHES

Mar 26 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Rebecca Gill

In light of concerns over how personal data is being used by social media platforms and tech companies, the Commonwealth Government has proposed amendments to the Privacy Act in order to more harshly penalise companies for privacy breaches. The new regime, which aims to update Australia’s privacy laws in line with increased social media use, will see tougher penalties for all entities that are subject to the Privacy Act, not just the headline companies like Google and Facebook.

The Commonwealth Government proposes to increase the penalties for serious or repeated breaches by such entities from $2.1 million to $10 million, or three times the value of any benefit obtained through the misuse of information, or 10 per cent of a company’s annual domestic turnover – whichever is the greater value.

Tourists aren’t the only thing visiting London’s hotspots

Mar 22 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Ella Richards

Over 100 million cyber-attacks have hit London’s top tourist attractions over the past few years, signalling hackers turning their attention to the treasure trove of customer’s personal data and related opportunities for ransomware attacks.

Kew Gardens experienced an incredible 86 million attacks during 2018 and has seen a 438% increase in attacks year-on-year. Personal and financial details of over 100,000 of its members and over 800 staff are highly sought after, with 82 million spyware attempts and 1.6 million information-stealing attempts last financial year alone. Although Kew Gardens have performed admirably in mitigating the attacks, a major server breach in 2017-2018 and an incident involving a compromised email address managed to slip through.

Imperial War Museum was the next highest target; with over 10 million cyber security incidents spread over three years and 8 successful ransomware attacks within that time. The Natural History Museum tallied 875,414 cyber-attacks over three years, of which 26,610 were considered ‘unmitigated’ threats.

Lastly, Tate Gallery (which oversees the Tate Modern Tate Britain Galleries) was subject to 494,709 attacks last year alone, however only four attacks featuring malware and phishing software were successful.

These attacks demonstrate hacker’s increasing focus on personal and financial data, which tourist hotspots and museums collect in enormous volumes on a daily basis. Sheila Flavell (COO of FDM Group) points out that in the wake of these incidents, the UK needs to increase their level of cyber expertise by attracting more people into the tech industry. We agree there are not going to be many unemployed cybersecurity consultants with this sort of scale of activities!

Thailand joins the party of legislated Data Protection

Mar 21 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Ella Richards

Following tireless attempts spanning over two decades, Thailand has finally approved the Thailand Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”), subject to royal endorsement and publication in the Government Gazette. Previously, the only right pertaining to personal privacy was located in the Thai Constitution, and while certain business sectors (such as telecommunications, healthcare and banking) had some protection, there was an absence of a singular consolidated data protection regime.

You may notice the broad similarity between the PDPA and the European Union’s GDPR; but don’t get too excited. Although various concepts have been drawn from the GDPR, the PDPA has been written with consideration of Thai perspectives, and therefor careful examination of compliance requirements of both regimes will be necessary.

Once the PDPA is published in the Government Gazette, Thailand will allow a transition period for businesses to adapt their practices (as the PDPA will apply to most entities onshore and offshore).

So, what can we do to prepare for the PDPA now?

Any company collecting data from residents of Thailand should ensure they’re in compliance before the PDPA comes into effect. Penalties for non-compliance will be severe, so an evaluation of business procedures will be necessary to determine if additional measures need to be adopted.

IoT (internet of things) legislation makes an appearance in the U.S. Senate

Mar 19 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Ella Richards

For those who are not familiar with the acronym, IoT or ‘Internet of things’ refers to the interconnection of network devices and everyday objects for increased control and ease of use.

The US Government has been steadily increasing the amount of IoT devices used in day-to-day business. In response to mounting concerns surrounding this, a bipartisan group in the Senate revealed a piece of legislation that will govern the use of IoT devices in the government context.

Ransomware attack hits the state of Georgia

Mar 18 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Ella Richards

Jackson County in Georgia has been held ransom after cyber-attackers deployed ransomware that crippled the government’s IT network for 2 weeks. Government officials resorted to coughing up $400,000 in bitcoin to pay the ransom, desperately trying to get out of the offline ‘pen and paper’ situation the attack had left them in. The suspected ransomware, ‘Ryuk’, caught the eye of the authorities at the end of 2018 after it started affecting the printing presses of Tribune Publishing. Due to the highly problematic decryption tool that is provided once the ransom is paid, Ryuk has the frightening capacity to destroy businesses which cannot survive in downtime or do not have restorable backups.

Read further about the incident here: https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/georgia-county-pays-400000-to-ransomware-attackers-a-12159

Un-“tapped” Potential: Gen Z and transactions

Mar 08 2019

By Cameron Abbott and Sara Zokaei Fard

Gen Z, those born between 1995 and 2005, are pushing innovation in the payment and transaction space with higher expectations from mobile experiences. Gone are the days that a credit card was swiped and bank transfers were used, transacting with an iPhone using Apple Pay and using PayPal is now taking the forefront.

American Express has released data showing that 68% of Gen Z’ers say they want instant person-to-person payments! This instantaneous requirement is also reflected in Gen Z’s use of membership programs. Membership cards are a thing of the past with digital rewards programs via apps now replacing cards.

The data also explores what factors would stop Gen Z from using a product or service in contrast to Gen Y. Interestingly, poor responsiveness on social media would stop 9% of Gen Y but more than double that figure, 21% for Gen Z. Even more stunningly four out of five Gen Z’ers are comfortable at openly conceding that they allow social media to influence their purchasing decisions!

The mobile phone is the ubiquitous device of this generation, try to drive their behaviour with yesterday’s technology and paradigms at your peril!

Author - admin