Catagory:Report & Surveys

1
“The best of its kind anywhere in the world today”: COVIDSafe among the safest tracing apps globally, study finds
2
A phishing pandemic – Part I
3
Lead the Way: Liechtenstein and Bavarian Data Protection Authorities Publish Guidance on Data Access and Security
4
Could your ERP system make you a victim of cybercrime?
5
Human error accounts for 34% of Notifiable Data Breaches – 3 key take outs from the latest OAIC report
6
Technology mightier than the Sword: US Military’s Secret Cyber Strike stifles Iranian Forces
7
Cyber diligence: Study reveals cybersecurity concerns are becoming a critical factor in M&A due diligence
8
PwC’s Enforcement Tracker finds a large increase in fines for privacy breaches in the UK
9
Privacy Awareness Week (Personal Data): technology suspicion – consumer concerns surrounding voice and digital assistants
10
Privacy Awareness Week (Health Information): Health sector and the notifiable data breach scheme – 12 months on

“The best of its kind anywhere in the world today”: COVIDSafe among the safest tracing apps globally, study finds

By Cameron Abbott, Warwick Andersen, Rob Pulham and Rebecca Gill

In some positive news about the Federal Government’s COVIDSafe app, the University of Adelaide’s cybersecurity experts have assessed the Australian contact tracing app to be one of the best and safest among 34 apps used globally to track and trace COVID-19 cases.

A team from the University’s School of Computer Science made the judgment in a study which assessed Android versions of 34 of the world’s COVID-19 contact tracing apps for security and privacy vulnerabilities.

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A phishing pandemic – Part I

By Cameron Abbott, Michelle Aggromito and Rebecca Gill

It’s upsetting to report, but should come as no surprise, that scammers are seeking to take advantage of organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch website reports that phishing attacks are on the rise, with scammers impersonating the World Health Organisation and other agencies. Scams include anything from offering victims a vaccine for COVID-19 to investment opportunities created by the pandemic.

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Lead the Way: Liechtenstein and Bavarian Data Protection Authorities Publish Guidance on Data Access and Security

By Cameron Abbott and Max Evans

Drawing on the requirements imposed in respect of privacy and data protection by the General Data Protection Regulation, Liechtenstein and Bavaria have published some useful guidance on several key elements of the relevant regulation.

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Could your ERP system make you a victim of cybercrime?

By Cameron Abbott and Allison Wallace

We frequently blog here about incidents where companies, government agencies or public have suffered data or security breaches at the hands of hackers. They’re often incidents that come to light because they affect the public in some way – by shutting down hospitals, exposing sensitive personal information, or threatening government security. But what about hacks that, while not having wide-reaching public implications, go to the core of a business’ operations?

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Human error accounts for 34% of Notifiable Data Breaches – 3 key take outs from the latest OAIC report

By Cameron Abbott and Karla Hodgson

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has released its Q2 statistics on notifications received under the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme. The 245 breach notifications in Q2 are on par with each other quarter since the scheme was introduced in July 2018 and while the majority of NDBs (62%) are attributed to malicious or criminal attacks, we noted with interest that a staggering 34% are due to human error – that is, mostly avoidable errors made by staff. A consistent theme of our blogs is reinforcing the message that employees are the front line of defence for organisations.

There are 3 key statistics we took away from these human error NDBs.

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Technology mightier than the Sword: US Military’s Secret Cyber Strike stifles Iranian Forces

By Cameron Abbott and Max Evans

Everyone knows the saying “the Pen is mightier than the sword”. The famous saying has been used for centuries to describe the ultimate power of words and communication over forms of violence. However, the rapid implementation and use of technology as a “combat” method doubts whether this saying is correct in a modern technological era, and begs the question as to whether technology is in fact mightier than the sword!

This dilemma is highlighted through the recent cyberstrike conducted by the United States. According to a Report by the Washington Post, in June of this year the Cyber Command of the US Military utilised a technology cyberstrike to target a significant Iranian database in the Persian Gulf. The relevant database was alleged to have been used by the IRGC, Iran’s elite paramilitary force, to damage oil takers and shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf. According to the Pentagon, the operation was in the works for weeks after Iran’s alleged attacks on two US tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier in June, and following an attack by Iranian forces on an unmanned U.S. Surveillance drone hours earlier, the cyber-strike was immediately given the go-ahead.

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Cyber diligence: Study reveals cybersecurity concerns are becoming a critical factor in M&A due diligence

By Cameron Abbott and Rebecca Gill

Unreported data breaches have disrupted several major M&A deals in recent years, such as Marriott International’s merger with the Starwood hotel chain. The growing list of cautionary (and costly) tales appears to be making an impression in the M&A space, as a recent study of IT professionals and business executives by Forescout Technologies has found.

The study queried a total of 2,779 respondents from all over the world, and found that 93% of the respondents viewed cybersecurity evaluations as important to their companies’ M&A decision-making processes. Respondents also ranked a target company’s history of cybersecurity incidents as the second most important factor when performing due diligence on the business, following the company’s financial statements.

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PwC’s Enforcement Tracker finds a large increase in fines for privacy breaches in the UK

By Cameron Abbott and Rebecca Gill

PwC’s UK Privacy & Security Enforcement Tracker has found that fines in the UK over data protection law violations totalled £6.5 million in 2018, a £2 million increase from 2017.

The Tracker analysed data protection enforcement actions by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), including monetary fines, prosecutions and undertakings. The Tracker shows that the total sum of fines increased from 2017, but the number of ICO enforcements fell to 67 in 2018 from 91 in 2017.

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Privacy Awareness Week (Personal Data): technology suspicion – consumer concerns surrounding voice and digital assistants

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Michelle Aggromito, Max Evans and Rebecca Gill

Protecting personal data is a fundamental aspect of any privacy regime. As we become more technological advanced, organisations are finding innovative ways to interact with consumers through more intuitive communication channels, such as voice recognition via digital assistants. But not everyone trusts such technology, as Microsoft’s April 2019 report on voice assistants and conversational artificial intelligence has found.

The report found that 41% of voice assistant users were concerned about trust, privacy and passive listening. Other interesting findings of the report include:

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Privacy Awareness Week (Health Information): Health sector and the notifiable data breach scheme – 12 months on

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Michelle Aggromito and Rebecca Gill

It’s been a little over a year since the notifiable data breach scheme was introduced in Australia. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) issued its Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme 12-month Insights Report on 13 May 2019, detailing its insights to come out of the scheme’s operation over the past 12 months. As regular readers would no doubt be aware, the health sector was one of the top industry sectors to report breaches in the first 12 months of the scheme’s operation.

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