Australia falls to fifth place in ASPI privacy rankings

Australia has fallen two places to fifth place on a list ranking 20 mainly Asia-Pacific countries by cyber maturity scores.

The list, compiled in a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, gives Australia a weighted average score of 79.9.

This score placed Australia behind the US (90.7), Japan (85.1), South Korea (82.8) and Singapore (81.8).

Last year, as part of the ASPI’s first annual cyber maturity report, Australia ranked third, ahead of each of these countries except the US (the UK was included in the 2014 report, but not in this year’s).

Cyber maturity was measured based on a country’s whole-of-nation approach to cybersecurity policy, including regulation and legislation, public-private partnerships, public awareness and internet penetration.

“Australia continues to improve the political, business and social elements of its cyber maturity, as evidenced by the opening of the Australian Cyber Security Centre in 2014,” the report states.

While the report notes that “there remains a paucity of coherent national cyber policy with which to guide [security] developments”, it adds that “this will improve if the Australian Government delivers and effectively implements its promised Cyber Strategy”.

The report comes as Telstra service reseller TeleChoice submitted an enforceable undertaking to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) after admitting to a data breach that left former customers’ information exposed.

The company was found to have been leaving the information in a shipping container on publicly accessible land.

As part of the undertaking, TeleChoice has agreed to reimburse the cost of a 12-month credit monitoring service for affected individuals concerned about the possibility of credit fraud.

In a statement, the OAIC said in the course of its investigation TeleChoice acknowledged it had not complied with Australian Privacy Principle 11. The company has agreed to take steps to improve information security and destruction practices.

Image courtesy of Eric Skiff under CC