The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) periodically publishes statistical information about notifications received under the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme to help entities and the public understand privacy risks identified through the scheme.
This report captures notifications received under the NDB scheme from 1 July to 31 December 2023.
Statistical comparisons are to the period 1 January to 30 June 2023 unless otherwise indicated.
Key findings for the July to December 2023 reporting period are as follows:
483 breaches were notified, up 19% from 407 breaches in January to June 2023.
Malicious or criminal attacks remained the leading cause (67%) of data breaches.
The health and finance sectors remained the top reporters of data breaches. Health reported 104 breaches (22% of all notifications) and finance 49 breaches (10%).
The majority of breaches (65%) affected 100 or fewer people.
In addition to the 483 primary notifications, the OAIC received 121 secondary notifications, a significant increase from 29 secondary notifications in January to June 2023.
The full report can be read here