Daily breaches of data revealed

THOUSANDS of Australians have had their personal information hacked or lost in more than 60 major data breaches in the past two months alone.

New figures reveal there are at least two major data breaches every day in Australia where individuals are exposed to “serious harm” when their private information is stolen by hackers or lost through human error.

Hackers were responsible for almost half (44 per cent) of the data breaches in the past two months.

The true extent of the problem has only been revealed through new mandatory reporting laws which threaten companies and organisations with fines of up to $2.1 million if they fail to notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner within 30 days of a serious breach.

In just six weeks since the laws came into force on February 22, there have been 63 major data breaches in Australia. That’s more than half the 114 data breaches reported in 2016-17 when notifying the government and affected individuals was voluntary. It reveals the rate data breaches are occurring is five times higher than previously thought.

More than half (51 per cent) of the breaches were the result of human error.

Acting Australian Information Commissioner Angelene Falk said the high rate of human error showed the importance of training staff to handle information.

She also said the FacebookCambridge Analytica scandal was a timely reminder for businesses about the importance of corporate responsibility for privacy protection. The OAIC last week launched an investigation into Facebook over the incident.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told a major cyber security conference in Canberra yesterday “conservative estimates” suggested cybercrime currently cost Australia more than $1 billion every year.