As an increasing number business and government activities occur online, the Federal Government has introduced new legislation to boost online identity and data security.
The newly enacted legislation strengthens local cyber security laws and enhances Australia’s ability to combat domestic and international cyber crime. It makes three key changes to assist Government agencies in their investigations into cyber crime:
- It sets the framework to enable Australia’s accession to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime – the only binding international treaty on cyber crime – which provides greater access to information stored overseas
- Carriers and ISPs can be requested to retain customer data
- The scope of existing Commonwealth computer offences has been extended.
AVG Security Evangelist Lloyd Borrett said the Government’s timely initiative will boost awareness levels and better personal and business attitudes regarding cyber security.
“Unfortunately, people don’t realise how prevalent and insidious viruses, Trojans, identity theft and scams are. McClelland cites the latest figures from Australia’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) which, in the last six months alone, has alerted Australian businesses to more than 250,000 pieces of stolen information,” he added.
The Convention covers crimes committed via the Internet and other computer networks, dealing particularly with computer-related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security
“With this recognition of the increasing impact of cyber crime, more people will be made aware of the need to subscribe to current, always-on Internet and anti-virus protection,” Borrett added.