Around , documents containing medical information and other sensitive information were found unprotected not only from prying eyes but also from the elements, with many files discovered to be rain damaged. For example, the loss of a strongly encrypted USB drive containing personal data, may not necessarily qualify as a breach, whereas that same drive without any encryption, if lost, would qualify as an incident in violation of the DPA.
Should you and your organisation be unfortunate enough to fall victim to an information security attack and the personal information with which you work being affected, then under law there are specific responsibilities with which you must comply. Failure to report such an incident may have a range of effects on individuals including discrimination, damage to reputation, financial loss, social or economic disadvantages.
Any incident must also be assessed on a case by case basis and organisations are required to give reasonable justification for their decision to either report or not report a breach to the supervisory authority, which in the UK is the Information Commissioner.
Organisations are also required to keep a record of any personal data breaches, regardless of whether you are required to or decide to notify authorities.
The Information Commissioner has the power to issue fines for infringing on data protection law, including the failure to report a breach. With a great deal of cross-over between the DPA and , many of the now seven principles of data protection are only slight augmentations of the previous laws.
Below we can see how these existing seven principles of data protection have been incorporated and developed by the GDPR. Enjoyed our blog? Learn more about how Hut Six can help improve you security awareness with training and simulated phishing. Start a free trial now, or book a meeting with one of our experts. Blog by Hut Six Security. UK supermarket Morrisons found not guilty for insider threat data breach.
Following any breach, the agency should assess and evaluate how well the matter was handled. In some circumstances, preparing a documented breach response plan can assist an agency to respond to a breach in a timely manner and help mitigate potential harm to affected individuals. The plan could set out contact details for appropriate staff to be notified in the event of a breach, clarify roles and responsibilities, and document processes which will assist the agency to contain the breach, coordinate an investigation and assess the need for breach notifications.
Please make sure you have read our disclaimer. You are here Home Guidelines For government Guidelines - Privacy principles Privacy compliance Privacy breach management and notification. PDF Print. Privacy breach notification obligations While the IP Act does not impose a mandatory obligation on agencies to notify the Office of the Information Commissioner OIC or affected individuals in the event of a privacy breach, agencies are strongly encouraged to notify OIC.
Other obligations Agencies may also be subject to additional mandatory data breach notification obligations through other legislative requirements, such as the information security incident reporting requirements under the Queensland Government Enterprise Architecture QGEA , the Commonwealth Notifiable Data Breaches NDB scheme and the My Health Records Act Cth.
Responding to a privacy breach There are four key steps in responding to a privacy breach: Contain the breach. Evaluate the risk of serious harm. Consider notifying affected individuals and OIC. Prevent a repeat. Step one: Contain the breach Take whatever steps possible to contain the breach and minimise any resulting damage. In some circumstances, it may be appropriate or necessary to notify a third party of the breach, for example: If the breach appears to involve theft or other criminal activity, the Queensland Police Service would be notified as a matter of course.
QPS has links and assistance to report cybercrime. If the breach involves corrupt conduct within the meaning of the Crime and Corruption Act , the Crime and Corruption Commission must be notified.
Depending on the circumstances of the breach and the information involved, other notifications may be appropriate, such as: the agency's elected representative, eg the Minister or Councillor relevant financial institutions or credit card companies; or professional or other regulatory bodies. Note The Australian Tax Office also has advice about protective measures for individuals following a data breach. Step two: Evaluate the associated risks To identify other appropriate actions, assess the type of personal information involved in the breach and the risks associated with the breach.
Factors to consider include: What type of personal information is involved? Some types of personal information are more likely to cause an individual harm if it is compromised. For example, government-issued identifiers such as Medicare or drivers licence numbers, health information, and financial information such as credit or debit card numbers, will be more significant than names and email addresses of newsletter subscribers.
A combination of personal information will typically create a greater potential for harm than a single piece of personal information for example, an address, date of birth and driver licence number if combined could be used for identity theft.
Who is affected by the breach? What individuals have been affected by the breach, how many individuals have been affected and do any of the individuals have personal circumstances which may put them at particular risk of harm? Did the breach occur as part of a targeted attack or through inadvertent oversight? Was it a one-off incident or does it expose a more systemic vulnerability? What steps have been taken to contain the breach?
Has the personal information been recovered? Is the personal information encrypted or otherwise not readily accessible? What is the foreseeable harm to the affected individuals? Who is the recipient of the information? Is there evidence that suggests theft, and was the information the target?
Evidence of theft could suggest a greater intention to do harm and heighten the need to provide notification to the individual, as well as law enforcement. What possible use is there for the personal information? For example, could it be used for identity theft, threats to physical safety, financial loss, workplace bullying, loss of employment opportunities, and humiliation or damage to reputation? A privacy breach can lead to a long process of recovering from identity theft.
Tip : Norton Security now includes LifeLock identity theft protection , helping to protect your personal information. LifeLock does not monitor all transactions at all businesses. All rights reserved. Firefox is a trademark of Mozilla Foundation.
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What are my privacy risks? Here are some tips that may help. Mind your passwords. Monitor your financial accounts. Check your credit reports. Take action quickly. Secure your smartphone. Check website security. Use high-quality security software. Avoid oversharing on social media. Want to learn more?
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