As a result of the Optus data breach, the federal government has established emergency legislation to aid banks and other organisations in protecting their consumers.
The rules that were just released will be in effect for a year and will be incorporated into the Telecommuncations Regulations of 2021.
The government will change regulations to enable telecommunications companies to “better coordinate with financial institutions, the Commonwealth, and states and territories, to detect and mitigate the risks of cyber security incidents, frauds, scams, and other malicious cyber activities,” as announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland today.
In order to monitor impacted clients, carriers will be permitted to communicate “authorised government identifying information” (such as driver’s licence, Medicare, and passport numbers) with “regulated financial services firms.”
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has joined the calls for fast-track, supporting Falk’s assertion that the small business exemption should be eliminated among other things.
The AIIA demanded today that the government publish an exposure draught of suggested modifications to the Privacy Act.
The AIIA stated that it “believes the Privacy Act is the ideal legal instrument to deal with contemporary data and privacy concerns and can settle many of the questions the public is rightly asking about retention of private data and identification papers.”
“Wherever it may be, the protection of sensitive citizen data must be a top concern.
