The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) has requested that the federal government urgently reform existing laws and reconsider the administration of My Health Record, saying the recent Equifax data breach has highlighted the urgency of protecting citizen information.
In its submission to the Independent Review of Accessibility by Health Providers of Medicare Card Numbers, APF said that health records are just as valuable to hackers, and that the current system for storing and using health records in Australia is “hopelessly deficient”.
“With lousy data security, and a world where data breaches are a daily event, the Australian government’s reluctance to fix this problem is looking negligent,” APF chair David Vaile said.
