Week 13- Security and Privacy

Question 1 -
See if you can find an example of a privacy breach that was reported in the Australian or international news in the last 6 months. What were the consequences? i.e. legal, political, financial, personal etc. What action was taken in response to the privacy breach?

The example I found was of a recent data leak that revealed the email and passwords of senior NSW Police officers and hundreds of journalists. The NSW Police has been embroiled in controversy following a major privacy breach involving the disclosure of the email and password details of senior counter terrorism officers and hundreds of journalists signed up to receive information from the NSW Police Media Unit.
Workshare recommends organisations automate their document compliance processes to prevent the inadvertent transmission of confidential information.
Such systems will:
* Convert content from risky to safe by cleansing and removing 'metadata - or hidden information' such as track changes or speaker notes, hidden columns, etc contained in MS Office files
* Contain potentially dangerous visible information at the desktop and server by monitoring and blocking unauthorised content
* Control sensitive information using document restrictions and on-demand PDF capability. Also record policy violations and hold necessary individuals accountable for their actions.

Source- http://www.ferret.com.au/n/NSW-Police-involved-in-major-privacy-breach-n712847

Question 2 - Have you been using Turnitin software this semester? If you have was it a positive or negative experience and why?

I have not yet used the Turnintin software. I am not personally looking forward to the experience due to the number of students undertaking the same assignment. There will surely be information found and used by more than one student. It can also put a lot of pressure on students as submission dates become closer.