Privacy Awareness Week 2023: Back to basics

Privacy Awareness Week 2023 is May 1 to 7, 2023. This year the theme is the very timely reminder – “Back to Basics.”

Privacy Awareness Week: Back to basics

How timely is the theme of this year’s Privacy Awareness Week?

So it looks like the Pentagon data breach is probably more attributable to poor document control and management, and too much access – rather than one of those “sophisticated cyber attacks” that we hear about, or anything that might require bleeding-edge cybersecurity skills. Extraordinary, given that the data breach involved the exposure of highly classified documents, such as military plans on the war in Ukraine  —  documents that contain information so sensitive that only people with the highest levels of security clearance in the U.S. government are supposed to be able to access them.

It reminds us of the importance of the basic precautions we should have baked in to our cyber and privacy posture:

• Are we collecting and retaining only the data we need?
• Are we managing who has access to that data?
• Are we making sure that that data is secure?

Pretty simple, right …

And, in case we needed it, a ringing endorsement of the OAIC’s Privacy Awareness Week 2023 mantra of Privacy 101 – Back to Basics.

Privacy Awareness Week: OAIC Resources

To mark Privacy Awareness Week 2023, may we suggest that you visit the excellent resources offered by the OAIC at https://education.oaic.gov.au/paw2023/

There are details of PAW events that you can join.

There are Privacy 101 tips for organisations covering topics like training your staff, simplifying your privacy notice, assessing privacy risks and privacy by design – Privacy 101 for businesses.

You can also register your support and take some of the self-assessment quizzes that are provided there.

Definitely worth a look!

Privacy Awareness Week: Check out our posts

It might also be worth re-visiting  some of our previous posts where we’ve covered important basics for your cyber security and privacy programs. A selection of those which might be of relevance include:

How to create a data inventory

Data mapping for better privacy management

Email marketing compliance do’s and don’ts

Email marketing laws in Australia

Tips for legally collecting email addresses in Australia

How to respond to access requests

How to make sure your website is privacy compliant

How to update your privacy policy

De-identification as a risk mitigation in big data sets

Privacy issues to avoid when recruiting staff

Privacy issues with using biometrics in the workplace

Employee photos and privacy issues

Privacy issues with data sharing

Quick tips for communicating privacy issues within your organisation

Voice recording laws in Australia

Tips for successfully implementing privacy by design

Hope some of those are of help – and Happy Privacy Awareness Week!

Ian Commins

Privacy, software design and technology. Ian is a privacy, IT and software contracts lawyer with over 30 years of experience as a lawyer and over 20 years of experience advising on the legal aspects of data management and processing.