[LINK] Centrelink staff sacked for privacy breaches

[Kim Holburn]

What I find wrong:

They don't seem until recently to have basic access logs, audit  
trails.  These things which should just have been there all along are  
referred to as "specially designed spy software" and are clearly  
new.  Specially design spy software sounds like it was covert.  It  
should always have been basic and open.

This kind of access has been going on for years, it's only now being  
addressed?

On 2006 Aug 23, at 8:48 AM, Howard Lowndes wrote:

> What do you find wrong:
>
> The fact that the staff were investigated?
> The fact that they used "spyware" to do the investigation?
> The fact that offences were found to have occurred?
> The fact that the offences did occur?
> The fact that so many offences occurred?
> The fact that the finding was publicised?
> The fact that action was taken against the staff?
>
> I have a close friend that works in a branch of Centrelink and his  
> ex alleged that he was accessing her record inappropriately.  He  
> was exonerated but was counselled that he had not told Centrelink  
> that his ex was a Centrelink client when he was employed.
>
> Kim Holburn wrote:
>> Almost everything about this seem wrong to me.
>> http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1721505.htm
>>> Hundreds of Centrelink staff have been caught inappropriately  
>>> looking up the records of friends and ex-lovers.
>>>
>>> The privacy breaches were uncovered using specially designed  
>>> spyware software.
>>>
>>> As a result of a two-year investigation, Centrelink has uncovered  
>>> nearly 800 cases of what it has described as inappropriate access  
>>> by staff to customer records.
>>>
>>> Nineteen staff have been sacked and nearly 100 resigned when they  
>>> were confronted with the allegations.
>>>
>>> Five of the cases have also been referred by Centrelink to the  
>>> Australian Federal Police (AFP).
>>>
>>> Centrelink general manager Hank Jongen says breaches of  
>>> customers' privacy will not be tolerated.
>>>
>>> "It was done for a whole range of reasons - from just sticky- 
>>> beaking, through to at the more serious end of records actually  
>>> being changed," he said.
>>>
>>> More than 300 Centrelink staff are also facing salary deductions  
>>> or fines, while 46 have been reprimanded.



--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +61 2 61258620 M: +61 417820641  F: +61 2 6230 6121
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
Cacert Root Cert: http://www.cacert.org/cacert.crt
Aust. Spam Act: To stop receiving mail from me: reply and let me know.
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD] http://www.saqqara.demon.co.uk/ 
datefmt.htm

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961