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Technology and the Law

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Technology and the Law

You are advising a parliamentary committee reviewing technology and the law in Australia. Read the case file, then answer each question using legal principles and evidence. Distinguish what the law says from what you think the law should say.

Case file: The HarbourLink breach

HarbourLink is an Australian transport app. It stores customers’ names, email addresses, travel histories and account passwords. A staff member receives a convincing email and enters their work password on a fake sign-in page. An attacker uses that password to enter HarbourLink’s system and copies customer records. The company discovers the breach two days later and reports it to the relevant authorities. Investigators obtain server logs showing account access times and IP addresses. Some records were stored on servers in another country. A customer argues that the travel-history data should never have been collected.

Investigate and evaluate

Use the case file and your knowledge of Australian law. For questions about current law, give a precise explanation and avoid assuming that every cyber incident is automatically a criminal offence.

1.Which action in the case most clearly describes phishing?

The staff member is tricked by a fake sign-in email and enters a password
Investigators examine server logs
The company stores travel histories
The company reports the breach

2.Name the Commonwealth statute that includes key computer-related offences, including unauthorised access or modification of data, and identify the relevant part.

3.Explain one reason investigators might use server-log metadata such as access times and IP addresses, and one privacy concern about collecting or using it.

4.Which Australian law is most directly concerned with how many private-sector organisations handle personal information?

Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including the Australian Privacy Principles
Migration Act 1958 (Cth)
Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW)
Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)

5.HarbourLink’s servers are partly overseas. Explain how this could complicate an investigation or legal response.

6.Match each term to its best description. Write the matching letter beside each number.

A. Phishing
B. Metadata
C. Data breach

2. Deceptive communication designed to obtain information or prompt an unsafe action
1. Information that describes or records details about a communication or system event
3. Unauthorised access to, disclosure of, or loss of protected information

7.Give two practical steps HarbourLink could take to reduce the risk of another breach. Explain briefly how each step helps.

8.A customer challenges the collection of travel histories. State one possible public or business purpose for collecting this information and one privacy safeguard that could make the practice more proportionate.

9.Investigators propose relying on the server logs in court. Identify one issue a court may consider when deciding whether digital evidence is reliable, and explain how investigators could address it.

10.Committee recommendation: Should Australian law require organisations holding sensitive personal information to meet a minimum cyber-security standard? Write a brief recommendation that states your position, gives two reasons, and recognises one counterargument or limitation.