"Data is not the new oil - it's the new plutonium. Amazingly powerful, dangerous when it spreads, difficult to clean up and with serious consequences when improperly used."

Jim Balsillie (2019)

How confident is your organisation with safeguarding important information from corruption, compromise, or loss? 

Even before COVID, an organisation’s obligation to safeguard its data had never been greater. Not only do you have to collect, store, process and discard data in ways that are compliant with regulations, you also need to have strong information security policies and practices to protect your data from malicious or unauthorised use.

There isn’t one rule that fits all organisations for privacy risk management; it comes down to the contexts, needs and priorities of the organisations itself. In a recent webinar I attended, it was stated that risk management generally leads to one of three outcomes:

According the OAIC statistics, phishing attacks have increased considerably in the past three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Three in five data breaches have been caused through malicious or criminal attacks; with data breaches resulting from phishing continuing to be the leading source of malicious attacks.

In early 2020, everyday life as we knew it was flipped as governments worldwide forced the closure of most things we take for granted, including businesses, sporting and cultural events, travel and schools. Parents had to stay home with their children, while educators were pushed to move their teaching programs to the online world.

It take's a great deal of effort and collaboration to create and nurture a school's digital culture. Educational Technology ("EdTech") is a rapidly evolving ecosystem of networked technology, all contributing to the rise of the Educational Data Economy. 

When discussing cyber risk and digital security, schools may lack the expertise needed to build the essential policies, structures and systems to create a learning environment that is securely technology-enabled. 

Website hosting security is now more important than ever. With more businesses turning digital comes the need for a clampdown on data protection. Let’s take a look at the recent ABS Census debacle, where poor security measures and inadequate hosting meant that the site crashed during its most critical period.