The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner announced there were 464 data breaches in the second half of 2021, up 6% from the previous reporting period, according to the latest Notifiable Data Breach report published Feb. 22. Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk urged organizations to put accountability at the center of their information handling practices. Falk said accomplishing this would give individuals more confidence their personal data will be handled... Read More

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the U.S. and Australia entered into a crime data sharing agreement under the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act. The DOJ said the agreement will allow law enforcement from both countries to trade electronic data in efforts to "prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute" a range of serious crimes, including ransomware attacks. The deal will be carried out with "strong protections for the rule of law, privacy and civil liberties," according to the D... Read More

In a Salinger Privacy blog post, Principal Anna Johnston, CIPP/E, CIPM, FIP, looks at proposals to amend Australia’s Privacy Act. Johnston discusses proposals released by the Attorney General’s Department in October, which have “much to say about digital harms, targeted advertising, personalised content and the role of online identifiers.” Overall, Johnston said the proposals “represent some sensible ways to strengthen the law,” but she added, “there are some opportunities not yet grasped, and a... Read More

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand published its “December 2021 Insights Report – Privacy Breach Reporting,” one year after implementation of the Privacy Act 2020. According to the report, reported privacy breaches increased nearly four times from Dec. 1, 2020 to Oct. 31, 2021, following mandatory reporting requirements. The OPC said one third of reported breaches met the threshold for serious harm, 35% involving emotional harm, 14% reputational harm, and 11% financial harm. T... Read More

Amazon Web Services will launch its first data center region in Auckland, New Zealand, by 2024, ZDNet reports. “When operational, the AWS region here will enable customers from startups to enterprises as well as government, education, and non-profit organisations to run applications and securely store data from data centres located right here on New Zealand soil. And they can do this knowing that we are committed to providing the highest standard of privacy and security protections,” New Zealand... Read More