'If your date of birth is compromised you are subject to identity theft - full stop,' Ms Evans said. Once that falls into malicious hands it could be years before it used. Many might not appreciate that the most sensitive piece of personal information sought by hackers is a date of birth, according to Ms Evans. 'We can talk about 'yes, we need bigger fines', but how about we use the fines we've got first?' 'We've had fines for data breaches in place for three or four years and the data commissioner is yet to give one out,' Mr Phair said. Mr Phair, who is a former AFP officer who helped establish the agency's High-Tech Crimes Unit, agreed Australia's fines 'are very low compared internationally for data breaches' but said perhaps more concerning is that they have never been used. Under those laws the maximum fines for privacy breaches reach €20million ($29million) or 4 per cent of a firm's global revenue from the preceding year, if that is higher. Privacy laws are much tougher in the EU and have been in place since 2016. 'We need to have a nation-wide dedicated secure portal for healthcare providers and pharmacies to exchange info.' 'If your doctor says they will email a prescription to your pharmacy or a referral letter to a specialist doctor this information is typically sent in an unencrypted format, and will include your Medicare number and potentially your birthdate too. 'I can not tell you how many times healthcare providers have asked me (and every other client) to email highly sensitive information in an unencrypted format - and they can’t / won’t handle simple things like sending this info in a password protected manner (encrypted),' she said. Ms Evans said Australian companies don't seem to 'have a clue' about the risk this entails. Technology futurist and keynote speaker Shara Evans says Australia is an easy target for international hackers.Ī particular glaring weakness is the widespread habit of sending sensitive data in unencrypted email.

Technology futurist Shara Evans has identified some of the weaknesses in Australian practice that make the country very vulnerable to cyber-criminals

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