Australian Federal Government – Page 3

The Essential Eight: Strategies for Security for Commonwealth Government Agencies

Nov 16 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Keely O’Dowd and Olivia Coburn

The Federal Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, tasked with inquiring into the cyber resilience of certain Commonwealth entities has recommended that all such entities adopt a cyber security mitigation strategy called the Essential Eight. The Committee made this recommendation in its Report 467: Cybersecurity Compliance Inquiry based on Auditor-General’s report 42 (2016-17) (Report). Tarantino’s Hateful Eight is perhaps a little more convoluted than these simple touchstones of good practice. The Essential Eight are good reading for all enterprises, not just government agencies.

Australian Government Contractor Data Breach

Nov 02 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Allison Wallace and Olivia Coburn

The personal details of almost 50,000 Australians have been published online by a third party government contractor, who is yet to be identified. And I guess you would feel a little shy about owning up to this one!

Just one of 734: Australian defence contractor hacked

Oct 16 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Olivia Coburn

A hacker has breached the computer system of an unnamed defence contractor and stolen 30 gigabytes of data, including information on Australia’s $17 billion Joint Strike Fighter program.

The data breach, which the Australian Government publicly disclosed last week, also includes information about Australia’s $4 billion P-8 surveillance plane project, Collins Class submarines and the warships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide. The Government has emphasised that the stolen data is commercially sensitive but not classified.

The announcement coincides with the release of the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s 2017 Threat Report, available here, which reveals that the hack is among 734 cyber incidents affecting private sector systems of national interest and critical infrastructure providers.

Together we are stronger – Australia and Singapore partner up on cybersecurity

Jun 06 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Allison Wallace

A freshly inked Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and Singapore will see the two countries strengthen their cybersecurity through a joint effort to build a secure and resilient cyber space.

The two-year partnership which was signed last week, will see Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency work with the Australian government to conduct regular information exchanges on cyber threats, share best practices to promote innovation in cyber security, and build cyber security capabilities. Read More

The police are reading … a lot … more than half a million times last year

May 02 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Edwin Tan

News Corp reported today that law enforcement agencies accessed the private data of Australian individuals about 541,300 times during the past 12 months. This is an estimated increase of about 60 percent compared to the previous year.

This is in addition to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirming on Friday that an officer had accessed phone records without a warrant earlier in the year. No action was taken against the officer.

The 2015 amendments to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) made it mandatory for telecommunications companies and internet service providers to retain metadata. This metadata can be accessed without a warrant by 21 government agencies, including the AFP.

However, journalists’ telecommunications data cannot be accessed by agencies without first obtaining a “Journalist Information Warrant”. An agency must apply to a Federal Court judge or a nominated Administrative Appeals Tribunal member to be granted the warrant.

The breach has sparked calls for an independent and public inquiry into the AFP, with Senator Nick Xenophon calling the incident “a complete failure with no real explanation”. Not the last we will hear about this issue we think. Read more about this here.

Australia’s new data breach notification laws: what they mean for you

Feb 15 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Allison Wallace

Further to our blog post yesterday, we’ve prepared a summary into the implications of the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2017 that has now been passed by both houses of Parliament. Read our article here.

Update: Mandatory Data Breach Notification Laws closer to being introduced

Feb 07 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Allison Wallace

As foreshadowed by the Attorney General’s Department last year, the Australian government is pushing ahead with its plan to introduce mandatory data breach notification laws, with Parliament today agreeing to a third reading of the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016. You can find more about the proposed legislation here. We’ll keep you updated as the bill makes its way through parliament.

Australian Government releases Cyber Security Strategy

Apr 29 2016

By Cameron Abbott and Giles Whittaker

Cybersecurity appears to be a new popular expenditure, particularly in Australia, as Malcom Turnbull announces his government’s new Cyber Security Strategy initiative budgeted to cost $230 million over 4 years in addition to the $400 million allocated in the 2016 Defence White Paper over 10 years.

So what do we get for all that money? The government has announced their 5 themes of action over the next 4 years which includes:

a national cyber partnership;
strong cyber defences;
global responsibility and influence;
growth and innovation; and
a cyber smart nation.

This will include the funding to establish a Cyber Security Growth Centre through a National Innovation and Science Agenda. The Growth Centre is intended to serve as an innovation hub which will identify and prioritise cybersecurity challenges and identify opportunities for Australia to build globally competitive commercial solutions.

Cybersecurity is grabbing global attention and the Turnbull government has appointment their first Cyber Ambassador. The role of the Cyber Ambassador will be to identify opportunities for practical international cooperation and ensure Australia is situated to take advantage of new commercial opportunities.

Small businesses are often left exposed to hackers due to a lack of resources allocated to cybersecurity and, are targeted for their potential provide a back door to other companies, are often targeted. Turnbull’s no business left behind strategy sees small businesses being allocated $15 million in grants to have their systems tested and improved by The Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST).

For further information access the government’s plan here.

Mandatory data breach notification legislation up for discussion

Dec 04 2015

By Jim Bulling, Cameron Abbott, Michelle Chasser and Meg Aitken

The Attorney-General’s Department has released for discussion, an exposure draft bill regarding mandatory reporting of serious data breaches. Notification requirements will apply to companies and information subject to the Privacy Act.

Under the proposal, a company would have up to 30 days after it is aware of a breach, or ought reasonably to be aware of a breach, to assess whether a data breach is a ‘serious data breach’. A serious data breach occurs if:

there is unauthorised access or disclosure of information; and
there is a real risk of serious harm to any of the individuals to whom the information relates.

When considering whether there is a real risk of serious harm to an individual the draft legislation lists a number of factors that should be considered including:

the kind of information;
whether the information is in a form that is intelligible to an ordinary person;
whether the information is protected by security measures;
the kinds of person who could obtain the information;
the nature of the harm; and
any mitigation steps taken by the company.

If the company determines that a serious data breach has occurred, it must notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and the affected individuals as soon as practicable. The draft legislation also gives the OAIC additional powers to direct companies to undertake notification.

The proposal has a number of differences from the previous attempts to legislate mandatory data breach reporting which were made in 2013 and 2014. Most notably, previously the trigger for notification involved a belief that there had been a data breach, the current draft requires a company to be aware, or when it ought reasonably to be aware, of a breach. Additional types of specific harm are included in the current draft, however, this is unlikely to have a major impact in practice.

Currently, data notification is only mandatory for unauthorised access to eHealth information under the My Health Records Act 2012. However, the OAIC operates a voluntary data breach notification scheme which also uses the real risk of serious harm notification threshold.

The exposure draft and accompanying discussion paper can be found here. Submissions are due by 4 March 2016.

Government Regulation, Legislation and Enforcement Updates

Apr 20 2015

by Jim Bulling and Julia Baldi

Australian Federal Government Cybersecurity Review
The Australian Federal Government holds a Cybersecurity Review.

See the Australian Government’s summary of the review here.

SEC Guidance Update
The SEC’s Investment Management Team published a Guidance Update which outlines measures managed funds and investment advisers may wish to consider in addressing cybersecurity risk. The guidance includes practical tips applicable to Australian entities.

See the Guidance Update here.

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