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Comply with Australia’s Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017

Australia's Privacy Act established a mandatory requirement to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals of data breaches. It took effect on February 22, 2018.

Entrust nShield® hardware security modules (HSMs) provide an environment for secure cryptographic processing as well as key generation and protection.

Regulation

Regulation Summary

On February 13, 2017, the Australian Senate passed a bill establishing a mandatory requirement to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals of "eligible" data breaches. The Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 amends Australia's Privacy Act 1988 and is slated to take effect on February 22, 2018 if no earlier date is proclaimed.

Penalties

According to Global Legal Monitor1:

A failure to notify that is found to constitute a serious interference with privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 can be penalized with a fine of up to … AU$1.8 million … (about … US$1.37 million …).

1https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/australia-bill-passed-requiring-notification-of-data-breaches/

Compliance

Compliance Summary

Section 26WG of The Act says breach notification is not necessary if “access or disclosure … would not be likely to result in serious harm.” The section further states:

Access to, or disclosure of, information would not be likely [to result in serious harm] if a security technology or methodology:

...

(i) was used in relation to the information; and

(ii) was designed to make the information unintelligible or meaningless to persons who are not authorised to obtain the information Entrust can help your organization keep breaches from happening in the first place through:

  • Hardware security modules to provide a hardened, tamper-resistant environment for secure cryptographic processing, key generation and protection, encryption and more

Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)

Entrust nShield HSMs provide a hardened, tamper-resistant environment for secure cryptographic processing, key generation and protection, encryption and more. Certified at FIPS 140-2 Levels 2 and 3, nShield HSMs support a variety of deployment scenarios. Entrust nShield Connect and Entrust nShield Solo HSMs also provide a secure environment for running sensitive applications. The CodeSafe option lets you execute code within Entrust nShield boundaries, protecting your applications and the data they process.

In addition Entrust nShield HSMs:

  • Generate and protect root and certificate authority (CA) keys, providing support for PKIs across a variety of use cases
  • Sign your application code so you can ensure that your software remains secure, unaltered and authentic
  • Create digital certificates for credentialing and authenticating proprietary electronic devices for IoT applications and other network deployments.

Related Products

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Our nShield HSMs offer tamper-resistant environments for cryptographic processing, key management, and encryption.
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Enhance security with nShield Connect HSMs - certified, networked appliances providing cryptographic key services across servers and virtual machines.
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nShield Solo HSMs are PCI-Express card-based solutions that deliver cryptographic key services to applications hosted on individual servers and appliances.
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CodeSafe software developer toolkit provides the capability to create and execute applications within the perimeter of a FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified nShield HSM.