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IDCare, an Australian government-backed service for victims of identity theft, has criticised a proposal to strengthen privacy laws in light of the increasing number of online data thefts.
IDCare, a non-profit organisation that assists victims of internet crimes, has warned that if Australia were to ease regulations that would allow regulators to impose fines on companies with inadequate data security measures and fail to make ransom payments illegal, it could lead to an increase in cybercrime.
IDCare argues that this move could motivate compromised companies to pay ransoms and lead to even more hacking.
The attorney general is reviewing an unpublished submission regarding the need to update privacy laws for the Internet age. The government has reported a rise in large-scale data thefts that have impacted almost every Australian family.
“Australian governments and businesses are increasingly targeted by ransomware attacks largely because they pay the demanded ransom,” IDCare said in the submission.
IDCare has become a go-to group for victims of cybercrime in Canberra, and their views will significantly impact a government review of privacy laws. The study aims to make it simpler to impose fines or file lawsuits against companies that do not safeguard customer data.
After the first major attack in October, which resulted in the theft of information from 10 million customer accounts at Optus, the government of Canberra has increased the maximum fine for companies that fail to prevent data theft to A$50 million, up from A$2.2 million.
The government is considering simplifying the process of applying fines and making it more straightforward for individuals to take legal action in case of theft of personal information.
According to IDCare, Australia aims to encourage companies to either pay a typical ransom demand of A$1 million or report the incident to authorities and face a fine of up to A$50 million by increasing the threat of hefty fines.
After Australia mandated companies to report data breaches in 2018, IDCare saw a surge in demand for its services, as stated in its submission.
Mark Rowley, the chief commercial officer of IDCare, stated that they now create “major incident” websites for individuals impacted by security breaches to reduce the number of calls they receive.
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