Ironic Home Affairs Data Leak

Doh!

You really couldn’t make this stuff up, I was aware of this news last week and at the time I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or both.

It really is a head in your hand’s moment, whilst being deeply embarrassing it’s also somewhat ironic that last week the Department of Home Affairs confirmed that it was responsible for an “inadvertent” release of personal data related to 50 small businesses that took part in a recent cyber security survey.

Also, you must wonder who on earth can you trust when handling data because if the Australian Government can’t stop a data leak what does it mean to all the other sites we interact with daily.

The department was “aware of a potentially unintentional data release” and further commented, the department will consider its obligations in accordance with the Privacy Act, including contacting impacted individuals.”

The data was part of a report put together by consultancy firm 89 Degrees East, based on a survey of over 2,000 small businesses, and was arranged under the aegis of the government’s Cyber Wardens program. The initiative aims to educate small businesses about “cyber threats” and place cyber wardens in small businesses alongside fire and safety wardens.

Shadow minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security James Paterson asked the initial question that led to the data leak, and he is unimpressed with the outcome.

“It’s deeply ironic this breach of personally identifiable information occurred in an answer to a question about improving cyber security for small businesses and from a department whose minister publicly attacked Optus when they had similar data stolen by a criminal gang,”

Here’s an idea, if you want to ask someone about securing business data, ask someone who can explain it in understandable terms and don’t fill in online forms to seek answers.

If you go to the webs site of The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), avoiding Home Affairs, you will find information to guide you without form filling or just ask us.