The Federal Government has flagged the introduction of new data laws that will punish companies if their customers’ data is hacked. After the absolute shit show of the past month, we would simply love to see it.
Under the proposed data laws, companies that get breached multiple times or are involved in serious breaches will be fined a very chonky sum.
The dollar value of the fine will be decided based on whichever value is greater in the following tasting platter of punishments:
A flat $50 million, 30 per cent of the company’s turnover during the period in question, or three times the value of the stolen data as per SBS.
The current fine is just $2.2 million so this will be a rude AF wake-up call to slack companies who have neglected to beef up their security systems.
“When Australians are asked to hand over their personal data they have a right to expect it will be protected,” Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.
“It’s not enough for a penalty for a major data breach to be seen as the cost of doing business.”
Dreyfus along and the Labor Party are expected to introduce amendments to the Privacy Act next week.
When Australians hand over their personal data they have a right to expect it will be protected.
Next week I will introduce legislation to make sure it is. pic.twitter.com/QyuvOXDMPM
— Mark Dreyfus (@MarkDreyfusKCMP) October 21, 2022
This news comes after even more companies were hacked this past week.
The latest victim was Medibank Group which had around 200GB of data stolen from its records. This included personal details and private medical information.
The company had approximately 3.9 million customers whose data could have been at risk.
Last week, a Woolworths-owned subsidiary MyDeal with 2.2 million customers was also hit by a breach.
The MyDeal breach included some customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, delivery addresses and dates of birth for customers who’ve had to prove their age when buying alcohol.
Woolworths Group has said 1.2 million people only had their email addresses exposed, per the ABC.
Let’s get these data laws passed please and thank you!
