Australia will now fine firms up to AU$50 million for data breaches

Bill Toulas reports:

The Australian parliament has approved a bill to amend the country’s privacy legislation, significantly increasing the maximum penalties to AU$50 million for companies and data controllers who suffered large-scale data breaches.

The financial penalty introduced by the new bill is set to whichever is greater:

AU$50 million

Three times the value of any benefit obtained through the misuse of information

30% of a company’s adjusted turnover in the relevant period