A Monash expert is available to comment on a potential data leak involving the personal details of more than 190 patients of Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital due to a cyber attack on the private email account of a staff member.
Professor Monica Whitty, Head of Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity, Faculty of Information Technology
Contact details: +61 450 501 248 or media@monash.edu
- Human factors of cybersecurity
- Online security risks
- Detecting and preventing cyber scams
The following can be attributed to Professor Whitty:
“This case demonstrates that workplaces need to develop policies and secure technology that understands and acknowledges how employees behave while accessing their organisation’s online networks.
“Research shows that these ‘accidental insiders’– employees who accidentally expose data or create vulnerabilities in their cyber workspace – do not have bad intentions towards an organisation, and when they find security workarounds it is often because they are committed employees who want to do their jobs effectively. This is primarily because often, technological security systems seem to pose delays and prevent productivity or efficiency in the workplace.
“The pandemic opened up new ways of working, for example working from home; however, industries need to enable employees to adopt different working styles while ensuring their information systems are secure.”
For any other topics on which you may be seeking expert comment, contact the Monash University Media Unit on +61 3 9903 4840 or media@monash.edu