Poor privacy practices continue in the wake of data breaches: new research

CyberCX, Australia and New Zealand’s leading provider of cyber security and cyber risk advisory services, is releasing new analysis into the privacy practices and standards of Australian organisations across the public and private sectors.

CyberCX’s 2023 Privacy by Design research team examined approximately 100 brands across 11 sectors in Australia.

Recent data breaches, and the increased penalties attached to an organisation’s failure to secure personal information, have seen privacy concerns dramatically increase for Australian consumers and businesses.

The report highlights that across their online shopfronts:

• The overall standard of brands’ privacy settings is still relatively poor.
• Telecommunications and Technology was the best performing industry, with the top ten brands scoring an average of 45 per cent against the report’s metrics.
• The Health and Fitness industry achieved the lowest average score, at 24 per cent.
• No brand demonstrated a high level of adherence to all seven of the core Privacy by Design principles.
• All brands across all industries have significant work ahead of them to successfully realise the Privacy by Design principles.

CyberCX’s Privacy Lead, David Batch said, “This privacy research, which comes in the wake of several high-profile privacy breaches that affected millions of Australians, is timely and important.”

“Australians, the business community, and government have never been more aware of the implications of poor privacy and data hygiene.”

CyberCX is calling on all organisations across the private and public sectors to examine their privacy settings against the seven core Privacy by Design principles to better safeguard Australians and their personal information.

“As our economy ever increasingly relies on digital channels to communicate and transact, we must ensure that privacy practices from individual organisations and regulation from government continue to rise to meet reinvigorated community expectations,” noted Batch.

CyberCX looks forward to working with government and industry to address our shared challenges in improving Australians’ privacy and safeguarding the nation’s prosperity.