❓ A WA parliamentary question regarding mobile device security and disposal policies within the Department of Communities, revealing existing security measures, disposal methods, and data sanitisation practices.
AnsweredQoN 3177Legislative Assembly
Asked
12 June 2018
Member
Portfolio
Child Protection; Women's Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services
QuestionView source ↗
In respect of the Minister’s portfolio responsibilities for any of their departments, agencies, government trading enterprises or boards, I ask: (a) Are there any policies or procedures in place for restricting unauthorised access to mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets and laptops): (i) If so, what are they; and (ii) If not, why not; (b) How many mobile devices have been disposed of in the following financial years and what was their disposal method (i.e. at auction): (i) 2015-16; (ii) 2016-17; and (iii) 2017-18; and (c) Were any of the mobile devices in (b)(i)-(iii) used to store sensitive or confidential information: (i) If so, what type of sensitive or confidential information; and (ii) If so, what measures are put in place to ensure this information is not retained on the hard-drive of the device upon it's disposal?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
14 August 2018
Responded by
Minister for Child Protection; Women's Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services
Response time
9 days
This answer covers multiple Ministers’ portfolios, including Disability Services, Volunteering, Seniors and Ageing, Housing, Youth, Veterans Issues, as well as my Child Protection, Women’s Interests, Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence and Community Services portfolios
(a) Yes;
(i) The Department of Communities Administration Manual outlines the procedure for restricting unauthorised access to mobile devices. Users issued with Department of Communities mobile devices are required to take reasonable precautions to keep them physically secure and protected from unauthorised access. In the event of loss or theft, access to mobile devices is automatically restricted.
(ii) Not applicable
(b) Devices for disposal are sent to a third party facility for recycling under common use agreement WAS2016.
(i) 2015-16: 215
(ii) 2016-17: 718
(iii) 2017-18: 451
(c) Yes
(i) In the normal course of business, the Department of Communities may have a variety of corporate and client information securely stored on mobile devices as part of business applications emails or within applications.
(ii) Data on hard drives are sanitised in accordance with US Department of Defence 5220.22-M standards or destroyed and a certificate of destruction is issued. Devices are reset to factory default and recycled under common use agreement WAS2016 and a certificate of destruction issued to the Department of Communities. Any devices that are unable to be wiped are physically destroyed.
(a) Yes;
(i) The Department of Communities Administration Manual outlines the procedure for restricting unauthorised access to mobile devices. Users issued with Department of Communities mobile devices are required to take reasonable precautions to keep them physically secure and protected from unauthorised access. In the event of loss or theft, access to mobile devices is automatically restricted.
(ii) Not applicable
(b) Devices for disposal are sent to a third party facility for recycling under common use agreement WAS2016.
(i) 2015-16: 215
(ii) 2016-17: 718
(iii) 2017-18: 451
(c) Yes
(i) In the normal course of business, the Department of Communities may have a variety of corporate and client information securely stored on mobile devices as part of business applications emails or within applications.
(ii) Data on hard drives are sanitised in accordance with US Department of Defence 5220.22-M standards or destroyed and a certificate of destruction is issued. Devices are reset to factory default and recycled under common use agreement WAS2016 and a certificate of destruction issued to the Department of Communities. Any devices that are unable to be wiped are physically destroyed.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.