Working from home provides a variety of challenges for organisations and their employees alike. Luckily, the technology that enables remote working is fairly seamless. This now means that working from home can be comparable to being in the office in terms of productivity and connectedness (aside from time wasted at the outset of every meeting asking whether other attendees can hear you!).
The use of technology for remote working does, however, create increased concerns for organisations from a privacy and cyber security perspective. The Australian Privacy Principles (being the privacy framework under the Privacy Act 1988) continue to apply notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic. Given the increased vulnerability of data as employees work from home in dispersed and unsecure locations, organisations need to be mindful that certain measures should be taken to ensure the change in the way we work does not:
- compromise valuable company intellectual property; or
- expose client data and personal information.
Understandably, avoiding ‘notifiable data breaches’ under the Privacy Act (i.e. when personal information is accessed or disclosed without authorisation or is lost) can be difficult at this time.
In recognition of the increased security challenges, the Australian Cyber Security Centre has published some basic but useful tips to help protect online systems and information. The publication can be accessed on their website here.
If you require advice in relation to privacy or guidance regarding to the notifiable data breaches regime, contact a member of our team for clear, on-point and practical advice.
Joseph Carneli, Senior Associate
