Privacy concerns regarding data breaches in the health system, hospitals in particular

November 30, 2014

Privacy and the medical sector should be synonymous. It is present in one of the world’s oldest oaths, the Hippocratic Oath.  The classical version Read the rest of this entry »

Cost to Home Depot from data breach reaches $43 million in just one quarter

Home Depot has the dubious distinction of suffering one of the biggest data breaches ever (I have posted on it here, here and here).  Which is saying something given the spectacularly large data breaches of the last few years. But the number of records accessed is only the start of a problem for an organisation which has had a major data breach.  There can be a major impact to Read the rest of this entry »

Hynes v Western Regional Integrated Health Authority 2014 CanLII 67125; tort of privacy

November 28, 2014

In Hynes v. Western Regional Integrated Health Authority, 2014 NLTD(G) 137 the Supreme Court of Newfoundland  found that notwithstanding the existence of the statutory invasion of privacy law does not preclude the existence of the common law “intrusion upon seclusion” tort as Read the rest of this entry »

Federal Aviation Authority reports on surge in near collisions between drones and airliners

November 27, 2014

The Washington Times has a very interesting piece on the impact, pardon the pun, of the growing use of drones on commercial airliners in Near-collisions between drones, airliners surge, new FAA reports show.  The  story has a link to the list of near mid air collisions with drones since 1 June (found here).  The incidents reported highlight a Read the rest of this entry »

Woman settles privacy action involving use of CCTV

November 26, 2014

Closed circuit televisions may be ubiqutious and enjoy a certain cachet in crime fighting, even if the evidence in support is somewhat patchy and overblown.  What is downplayed is Read the rest of this entry »

ACMA launches webcast to deal with Malware

This Friday ACMA is conducting a webcast as part of its Australian Internet Security Initiative (AISI) portal to fight against Malware.

It is trite to say that Malware is a very significant and ongoing challenge to maintaining proper data security.  Just a few days ago Symantec in a post on its website highlighted a serious problem associated with sophisticated malware programs in Regin: Top-tier espionage tool enables stealthy surveillance and accompanying white paper.  It is imprudent for an organisation which suffers a data breach because of a malware attack to claim, ipso facto, there was nothing that could be done.  Conversely a malware infection does not of itself constitute non compliance with regulatory obligations.  There is no strict liability under Read the rest of this entry »

New South Wales Privacy Commissioner launches Privacy Governance Framework

The New South Wales Privacy Commissioner has launched an on line tool, titled Privacy Governance Framework,  to assist in the management of personal information.  It is found in PDF format here.

The announcement Read the rest of this entry »

Privacy Commissioner releases Privacy Regulatory Action Policy

November 25, 2014

The Privacy Commissioner has issued the Privacy Regulatory Action Policy. As far as it goes it is a useful explanation of the gamut of powers available to the Privacy Commissioner.  It tends to the Read the rest of this entry »

Piercing columnist provides unique, vivid insight on privacy and peoples concerns….. not

November 24, 2014

From time to time one comes across a piercing analysis which makes what seems shrouded in confusion suddenly clear, what is difficult appear easy and what is complicated, simple.  Unfortunately Read the rest of this entry »

Privacy breach as Russian site streams private webcams

November 22, 2014

The Australian in Warning on passwords after Russian site streams from private webcams reporrts on a very significant privacy breach with a Russian website accessing various home surveillance devices such as webcams, baby monitors etc.. The breach is attributable to Read the rest of this entry »