Access Card Could Be Hacked
The Age
Saturday March 24, 2007
The danger that criminals could hack into people's passport or birth certificate details when they registered online for the controversial Access Card was a "matter of concern", according to a government-appointed taskforce.
"Steps should obviously be taken to ensure that the security advisers to the Access Card scheme are developing protections in a way which reassures public concern," the taskforce said in a discussion paper released yesterday.The paper comes after the Howard Government was this month forced to delay the introduction of laws for the $1.1 billion Access Card, which is intended to replace 17 social service cards by 2010, after a Senate committee warned it could become an identity card and pose a threat to privacy.The taskforce, which is chaired by Professor Allan Fels, said the success or failure of the entire Access Card proposal rested substantially upon ensuring the registration process was effective."What is really challenging is the need to engage with, and enrol, in excess of 16 million Australian citizens, permanent residents and other eligible persons and to provide them with their own Access Card," the discussion paper said.
© 2007 The Age