Privacy Awareness Week – Power up your privacy

6 – 12 May 2024 is Privacy Awareness Week.

We want to take this opportunity to pass on tips on how to protect your privacy online.

1. Transparency

Do the housekeeping: protect your data by looking at what information your devices and apps hold and can access, and remove permissions that overstep the mark.

Provide informed consent: Read privacy information. If it’s not clear, ask the organisation. If an organisation is seeking your consent, you must be appropriately informed about what you’re consenting to.

Make good choices: Put privacy first. Make your starting position ‘no’ and only say ‘yes’ if there is a good reason to.

2. Accountability 

Expect sound privacy practices: Not good enough on privacy is just that – not good enough. Expect that baseline privacy requirements are met, at a minimum. Organisations pursuing best practice may well exceed them.

Know your rights: Find out what is required of organisations holding or handling your data, and how to make a complaint.

Champion privacy: By speaking up for privacy, you can help make things safer for everyone. As new technologies evolve, this is particularly important. 

3. Security

Check and consider credentials: This means both looking out for scammers and considering the organisation’s reliability before you hand over your information. Be wary of free public wifi – and what you tell generative AI.

Flex your privacy muscles: Have strong and varied passwords and enable multifactor authentication if it is available. The same goes for security updates. Also, be socially savvy – watch what you share on socials, and check your privacy settings.

Be vigilant: Do regular ‘health checks’ on any accounts with access to your finances. You can also check if our personal information has been in a data breach on the Have I been Pwned website. 

For more information on how to stay safe online visit our security page and also check out the Australian Government’s Privacy Awareness Week website