The Registrar is aware of the heightened level of attention that has been placed on electronic conveyancing.
Electronic conveyancing remains a secure and robust environment to transact land. The incidents over the past week act as a strong reminder to all of industry – ELNOs, land registries and conveyancers – that IT security must always be a priority.
While no financial transaction is free from the risk of fraud, the Registrar encourages all of industry to take every possible step to reduce the overall risk by being vigilant in maintaining system security and integrity through appropriate security and virus protection. As prudent practice industry should, among other things, verbally confirm bank account details with clients, avoid using free public Wi-Fi and keep security patches up to date.
A strong cyber security program should include 5 pillars which work collectively to protect your business information. These are:
- Policy – Development of policies including acceptable use of corporate systems and an incident response framework.
- Process - Understand how information traverses your organisation and how cyber risk is managed.
- Technology – Use of technologies to prevent or reduce the impact of cyber risks to an acceptable level.
- People – Knowledge and awareness which keeps pace with your changing business ecosystem.
- Culture & Trust – Embed cyber awareness within the culture reflected in organisation-wide programs and education.
There are several cyber security maturity models available which can be used for self-assessment to help an organisation improve its cyber resilience. These are useful guides and some examples include:
Australian Signals Directorate’s Essential Eight Maturity Model 2017 – www.asd.gov.au/publications/protect/essential-eight-maturity-model.htm
Baldrige Cybersecurity Excellence Builder – www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2016/09/nist-releases-baldrige-based-tool-cybersecurity-excellence
RESILIA Pathway Tool – www.axelos.com/news/resilia-pathway-tool-to-help-organizations
The WA Registrar of Titles is committed to continuing to work with industry to ensure the regulatory requirements remain relevant and robust in managing the risk of fraud.
Your sincerely
Jean Villani
Registrar of Titles
Landgate
