NSW Police is to improve data-sharing with the state’s identity recovery unit, ID Support NSW, as part of a new agreement,
The new memorandum of understanding (MoU) is intended to “create a faster and more effective response to identify theft” in response to a rising number of data breaches, scams and cybercrime.
The agreement came after NSW Police uncovered around 14,000 identity documents that were being used in an alleged fraud scheme.
Through a cooperative effort with ID Support specific to that seizure, NSW Police said 959 individuals were identified as being potentially impacted by the scheme.
The identity documents were likely cobbled together from various data breaches.
First launched three years ago, ID Support serves as a single point of contact for people who have fallen victim to identity theft or had their personal data compromised in a data breach.
It works alongside other NSW agencies and identity and cyber support service IDCARE to replace compromised identity documents and mitigate the risk of stolen credentials being used.
State Crime Command’s cybercrime squad commander, detective superintendent Matt Craft, said the partnership “marks a significant step forward in [the force’s] efforts to protect the public from the ever-growing threat of identity theft, data breaches, scams, and other types of cybercrime.”
“It enhances our ability to educate the public and provide critical support to those affected by cybercrime, and it also underscores our commitment to leveraging all available resources to stay ahead of would-be cyber criminals and to support victims,” he added.
Digital NSW Deputy Secretary Laura Christie said the MoU with NSW Police will “amplify both team’s abilities to respond to incidents and provide help for victims of identity theft, fraud and scams.”
