Privacy, Data Protection & Information Management – Page 20

Ambulance chasing through data sharing? Health app accused of sharing personal health information with law firm

Jun 25 2018

The idea of lawyers “ambulance chasing” seems to have taken on a new form. An investigation by the ABC has revealed how technology is being used to share health information with lawyers to generate work.

The ABC has revealed that HealthEngine, Australia’s largest online doctor’s appointment booking service, shared daily lists of prospective clients with law firm Slater and Gordon, based on personal medical information shared by users with the app.

Research reports say risks to smartphone security aren’t phoney

Jun 19 2018

By Rob Pulham, Warwick Andersen and Sarah Goegan

Beware! Your favourite apps may be putting your phone and data at risk. Reports from Allot and BitSight have examined rising threats to the security of our mobile devices.

Report savages US Government agencies’ cybersecurity efforts

Jun 15 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Sarah Goegan

You would think government agencies would have a keen focus on cybersecurity risks, but apparently not! A report by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has found that nearly three-quarters of Federal agencies reviewed have either “at risk” or “high risk” cybersecurity arrangements. 71 of 96 agencies assessed were either missing, had insufficiently deployed or had significant gaps in their fundamental cybersecurity policies, processes or tools.

Not so happy families: Online genealogy website suffers data breach

Jun 13 2018

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Sarah Goegan

Online genealogy platform MyHeritage suffered a major data breach in which email addresses and hashed passwords of over 92 million users were leaked. The data breach occurred in October 2017, but was not discovered until 4 June 2018.

MyHeritage became aware of the breach after a security researcher found a file named “myheritage” on a private server. The file contained all the email addresses of MyHeritage users who signed up through to 26 October 2017, and their hashed passwords.

Proposed anti-terror laws to give law enforcement access to personal data

Jun 12 2018

By Warwick Andersen, Rob Pulham and Sarah Goegan

Last week, the Australian Government announced that it would propose new anti-terror laws that force telecommunications and multinational tech companies to give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted data of suspected criminals and terrorists.

Cyber Security Minister Angus Taylor said the laws would give police, intelligence and security agencies the ability to bypass encryption on messaging (such as private messages sent on Whatsapp and Facebook), phone calls, photos, location and apps.

When employee data does fall within the legal privacy net

Jun 12 2018

By Cameron Abbott, Warwick Andersen and Georgia Mills

PageUp, a leading HR software support company has revealed it has fallen victim to a massive data breach, potentially compromising the personal details of thousands of Australians. Boasting over 2 million active users worldwide and counting a roll call of major Australian companies together with a number of government agencies as clients, the breach may be the largest since the introduction of mandatory data breach notification laws in February (which we blogged about here).

Aqua-man goes hi-tech – Microsoft’s Plunge into Deep Sea Data Storage

Jun 12 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Georgia Mills

In addition to all things cyber security related, we here at CyberWatch love to see new technologies being developed and Microsoft’s latest data storage project has us all excited.

Microsoft has leveraged the technologies of submarines and renewable energy to plunge an experimental 12 metre long datacentre into the sea near Scotland’s Orkney Islands. The project, known as Project Natick, seeks to understand the benefits and difficulties in deploying subsea datacentres powered by offshore renewable energy.

Chubb’s new personal cyber security coverage

Jun 04 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Georgia Mills

Chubb has recently released a new cyber security insurance coverage for individuals in North America. The product intends to provide greater protection from cyberattacks that lead to extortion and ransomware, financial loss, cyber disruption and breaches of privacy.

Australian Government legislates to protect critical national infrastructure

May 28 2018

By Cameron Abbott, Keely O’Dowd and Sarah Goegan

Protecting Australia’s critical infrastructure from threats is essential to Australia’s national security interests, community safety and the overall quality of life for Australians.

In March 2018, the Australian Parliament passed the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, which is due to commence on 11 July 2018. The Act imposes new obligations on operators and owners of “critical infrastructure assets” – Australia’s high risk major ports and electricity, water and gas utilities.

Cost of cybercrime hits a new high according to the ACCC’s Scamwatch Report

May 24 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Giles Whittaker

Australians are suffering more than ever to various cyber scams, with the ACCC’s ninth annual Targeting Scams Report confirming the ACCC received more than 200,000 scam reports costing a total of roughly $340 million during 2017, a $40 million increase from 2016. Whilst this increase is attributed to a variety of different cyber scams, including investment scams which totalled $64 million, an increase of more than 8%, the second largest contributor to the $340 million total losses was from dating and romance scams which amounted to $42 million. The search for love clearly has its costs. With the average loss suffered per victim totalling $6500, these losses are not inconsequential and continue to push cybersecurity into the forefront of both individuals and businesses daily activities.

Catagory:Privacy, Data Protection & Information Management