Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has set limits to the amount of 5G spectrum that each operator will be able hold in the 3.4Gz – 3.7GHz band. The new limits of 60MHz in metropolitan areas and 80MHz in regional areas come ahead of an auction of 125MHz of 5G spectrum in the 3.6GHz band, to be … Read more
NEC has won a $4.7 million contract to supply NSW Police with up to 1000 smartphone-compatible portable fingerprint scanners. The scanners will allow officers to register and verify identities on the go, removing the need to return to their stations. The scanners will also alert them to outstanding warrants and other information on suspects. They … Read more
A number of sensitive Federal Government and corporate networks – including some holding highly confidential plans for a geostationary communications satellite – have been penetrated by sophisticated cyber attacks, according to an ABC Four Corners investigation. Austrade and the Defence Department’s elite Defence Science Technology Group, have both suffered significant cyber infiltrations by hackers based … Read more
Australian organisations reported 63 data breaches in the first six weeks of the Turnbull Government’s mandatory notification system, under which all major organisations must promptly report all breaches. It that rate continues, Australia can expect to see more than 500 breaches reported across Australia by the end of the year. But that number could rise significantly … Read more
The Australian Privacy Foundation has called on the Federal Government to beef up privacy protection “without delay”, starting with legislation that would enable people whose privacy has been wrongly disregarded to take the offender to court and gain compensation. It says such legislation has been recommended by a succession of law reform bodies, and suggests … Read more
The Turnbull Government is preparing to introduce strict new rules on data sharing by Australian-based banking and telecommunications companies. This follows a number of international data-sharing scandals, most recently the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica affair, which saw Facebook selling its users’ personal information to advertisers. That will be strictly prohibited under Australia’s new regime. Legislation now being … Read more
After a lengthy investigation, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has lambasted the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) for the fiasco in the 2016 federal election when a Senate scanning system – designed to capture voter preferences from ballot papers – largely failed, requiring a full manual recount that took many days and increased costs by … Read more