Small businesses across Australia could soon be tripped up by incoming rules addressing data breach disclosures, according to news from the Brisbane Times this week.
The publication said Tuesday (Feb. 20) that research in the HP Australia IT Security Study, conducted by ACA Research, found nearly half of small companies are unaware of the incoming rules that require them to disclose a data breach.
Those requirements are part of the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme under the Privacy Act and come into effect on Thursday, reports said. Failure to disclose a data breach — which can come in the form of accidental leaks of information or via a cyberattack — could land a hefty fine on businesses unaware of the new rules.
According to the report, 57 percent of small firms have not conducted any sort of IT security risk analysis in the last year. Nearly a fifth do have a compliance policy in place, and an additional third are in the process of developing such a policy.
But a lack of awareness could mean SMBs will not have enough time to fully address security issues.
Researchers highlighted the threat of employees who work remotely, with only 44 percent of businesses surveyed noting they have a security policy for workers who bring their own devices into work. Only about a third said they are able to restrict data that can be accessed from those devices that are brought back home.
“Security threats are evolving every day,” said HP South Pacific Director of Printing Systems Paul Gracey. “Due to reduced effectiveness of firewall protection, every device on an organization’s network is at risk, and unfortunately printing and imaging devices are overlooked and left exposed.”
Most small businesses surveyed identified “employee carelessness” as a top security concern.
“Think about the number of times you’ve opened your work laptop on the train or bus, only to catch someone looking over your shoulder,” Gracey added.
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