Australian Privacy Principles

What are the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)?

The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), outlined in the Privacy Act 1988, are the cornerstone of privacy protection in Australia. They govern how organizations collect, use, disclose, and store personal information.

The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) apply to Australian government agencies, private health service providers, and all private sector and not-for-profit organizations with an annual turnover of $3 million or more. In some specific cases, they can also apply to other organizations who do not meet the annual turnover requirements if they trade in personal information, operate residential tenancy databases, or are related to larger businesses. 

Here’s a brief overview of all the APPs:

• Open and transparent management, meaning that organizations must be transparent about their data practices and have readily available privacy policies.
• Anonymity and pseudonymity, which means that Individuals should have the option to not identify themselves when dealing with an organization, where practicable.
• Collection of solicited personal information, which means organizations can only collect information necessary for specified purposes and with consent.
• Dealing with unsolicited personal information, which means respecting the guidelines for handling personal information received without direct solicitation.
• Notification of the collection of personal information, which requires organizations to inform individuals about the collection of their information.
• Use or disclosure of personal information, which means that information can only be used or disclosed for the purpose it was collected, with some exceptions.
• Direct marketing principle, which allows individuals to opt out of direct marketing communications.
• Cross-border disclosure of personal information, which means that overseas transfers of personal data are subject to specific requirements.
• Adoption, use or disclosure of government identifiers, which restricts the use of government identifiers like tax file numbers.
• Quality of personal information, which requires organizations to take reasonable steps to ensure their data is accurate, complete, and up-to-date.
• Security of personal information, which requires appropriate security measures to be implemented to protect data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.
• Access to personal information, which means that individuals have the right to access and correct their personal information held by organizations.
• Correction of personal information, which means that organizations must take reasonable steps to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.

How Finite State Helps You Comply with the Australian Privacy Principles

Finite State can complement your data protection efforts by strengthening your data security capabilities, particularly by: 

• Enforcing Secure Coding Practices: Seamless integrations into existing CI/CD pipelines automatically analyze source code and compiled binaries for common security vulnerabilities and coding errors. This allows engineers to identify vulnerabilities hidden deep within legacy code and third-party libraries and detect and address issues early in the development process.
• Real-Time Threat Detection: Integrations with vulnerability databases provide up-to-date information on the latest threats and exploits, allowing for the proactive identification of potential risks before they can be exploited.
• Automate Vulnerability Identification: Using our advanced binary and source code SCA, vulnerabilities can be identified as they’re introduced across the SDLC to help teams keep applications secure.
• Comprehensive SBOM Solutions: Automatically generate Software Bill of Materials throughout the SDLC and easily compile detailed information on all components in your products, including open-source libraries, third-party dependencies, and custom code to improve transparency and identify potential security risks in your software supply chain.

Strong cybersecurity requires a collective effort. Talk to the team today to discover how Finite State can help you comply with Australian Privacy Principles.