AI reshapes data privacy risk across Australia, NZ
SecurityBrief Australia, Karen Joy Bacudo, Finance Editor
Sam Salehi, Managing Director ANZ, Qualys
"The response shouldn't be a blanket ban. Enterprises need to treat AI like any material risk surface: know what's being used, control what's being shared, and enforce guardrails based on business context - with approved pathways, strong access controls, clear handling rules and continuous monitoring. The fundamentals still apply. The attack surface is just more conversational now. And here's the catch: the next privacy incident won't always look like a breach. Sometimes it'll look like productivity."
Thomas Fikentscher, Area Vice President ANZ, CyberArk
"As AI systems move from analysis to autonomous decision-making, Data Privacy Day is no longer just about how data is collected or stored - it's about accountability. Organisations are deploying AI into high-impact environments faster than governance frameworks can keep up, raising hard questions around liability, data quality and oversight when AI-driven systems produce unintended consequences.”
Olly Stimpson, Senior Manager, PAM Transformation ANZ, CyberArk
"In an increasingly chaotic world, the idea of 'taking control' is no longer just an aspiration but a business imperative, in particular when it comes to handling data. While we struck an optimistic tone on Data Privacy Day last year, 2025 regrettably saw several high-profile incidents across Australia and New Zealand in which significant volumes of personal data were compromised.”
Gary Savarino, Identity Strategist for APAC, SailPoint
"AI agents now act autonomously, machine identities are multiplying, and sensitive data is constantly moving between systems, people and services. The security perimeters organisations once relied on, including networks, departments and firewalls, no longer hold. Attackers understand this shift. Increasingly, they are not exploiting new technical vulnerabilities, but walking straight through the front door using compromised, over-privileged or poorly governed identities.”
https://securitybrief.com.au/story/ai-reshapes-data-privacy-risk-across-australia-nz