The Privacy Act reforms represent an opportunity for channel professionals to serve as trusted advisors to their clients. With the complexities of the reforms understood, channel professionals can help their clients prepare for the uncertainty set to descend on Australian businesses after 12 March. While the reforms will likely require organisations to invest in new security technology, it is already a boon for security service providers.
Sydney-based penetration testing firm HackLabs has picked up additional business as a direct result of the reforms. Director Chris Gatford has fielded calls from concerned clients that requested additional penetration testing be done across their web and application platforms that were previously considered too hard and unnecessary.
“Most of them are long overdue testing of third parties that were always in the ‘too-hard basket’,” Gatford says. “Now with the threat of significant fines and media coverage, it seems to be suddenly more compelling, and several projects are starting to ramp up for testing of these outliers.”
Many more security architectures and technologies previously ignored will similarly be considered in scope as a result of the reforms. Some security experts posit that new fields managing customer data according to the new privacy principles may emerge as booming businesses. Meanwhile, other resellers, including Dimension Data, are working with clients to formulate specific or canned privacy policies for their clients to deploy to help keep the privacy commissioner and his auditors off their backs.
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