Date Time
Human factor dominates latest data breach statistics
Data breaches attributed to human error continue to increase according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) latest Notifiable Data Breaches Report.
The OAIC received 539 data breach notifications from July to December 2020, an increase of 5% on the previous six months (512).
Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk said 38% of all data breaches notified during the period were attributed to human error.
“In the past six months, we saw an increase in human error breaches both in terms of the total number of notifications received – up 18% to 204 – and proportionally – up from 34% to 38%,” Commissioner Falk said.
By Justin Hendry on Jan 27, 2021 12:45PM
Almost 1300 individuals to receive payment.
The Department of Home Affairs has been ordered to compensate almost 1300 asylum seekers for inadvertently publishing their personal information online in 2014.
It comes six years after the then Department of Immigration and Border Protection was originally found to have breached the Privacy Act over the data leak that impacted a total of 9250 individuals.
The breach occurred when the department accidentally made public a database containing the personal information of all individuals held on Christmas Island and in a mainland detention facility.
Information, including full names, nationalities, dates of birth, gender and boat arrivals, was accessible for eight days on the department s website and a further seven days on Archive.com before it was removed.