TOUGHER PENALTIES TO KEEP AUSTRALIANS SAFE ONLINE

"Existing protections and penalties for misuse of Australians' personal information under the Privacy Act fall short of community expectations, particularly as a result of the explosion in major social media and online platforms that trade in personal information over the past decade," the Attorney-General said.

TIME FOR THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT TO STEP IN

After a year of GDPR, Australian companies are still feeling their way towards compliance. It’s time for government to step in wielding a big stick, compliance expert advises.

GDPR ONE YEAR ON AND THE LESSONS LEARNED

According to the European Union (EU), the GDPR is the most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years – claiming to fundamentally reshape the way in which data is handled across every sector, from healthcare to banking and beyond.

CHINESE RECOGNITION SYSTEM DETECTS ETHNICITY

The rise of facial recognition technology has opened discussion relating to someone’s right to privacy and how the technology can be used against private citizens by people or organizations with abusive intents.

59K DATA BREACHES REPORTED SINCE MAY 25 2018

59,330 data breach notifications have been reported to Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) across Europe by both public and privately-owned organizations since EU's GDPR was passed on May 25, 2018.

OVER 40% OF AUSTRALIANS HIT IN ONE DATA BREACH

Over 10 million people hit in single Australian data breach. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's quarterly data breach report also revealed private health was again the country's most affected sector.

COMMON SMALL BUSINESS MISTAKES

A survey commissioned by Aon. Chris Mallett, a cybersecurity specialist said: “As the results show, many businesses could be in breach of GDPR – most likely without even realising it.

SMALL BUSINESSES FRAUD HAS COST 50,000 JOBS

A study carried out by YouGov on behalf of the bank found that 44 per cent of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) had been targeted by fraudsters and almost one in four (23 per cent) had fallen victim to fraud.

ePRIVACY REGULATION IS COMING

The ePrivacy Regulation is designed to work alongside the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), giving businesses added liability around digital privacy.

PRIVACY BREACHES UP 600% IN AUSTRALIA

In the past six months in Australia, 13 very small companies have been sanctioned under (Europe's data protection regulations). It's not just the big companies.

POLAND ISSUES FIRST GDPR FINE

On 15 March 2019, the Polish supervisory authority issued the first decision imposing an administrative fine in the amount of PLN 943,000 (approx. EUR 220,000) for the infringement of the information obligation stipulated in Article 14 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679.