Australia Introduces New Telco Regulations To Combat Phone Scams

• The Australian government has introduced new telco regulations to fight against phone scams.
• An action plan to prevent telephone scams is expected to be released in November.

With mobile scams exposing personal and financial information to the hackers, the government of Australia has decided to bring in suitable regulations.

The details

The new regulations bring in industry-wide measures that telcos are expected to implement.

• Two-factor authentication is required to transfer numbers from one provider to another.
• Although many telcos already have a security process before porting, there are still a fair number of telcos that are yet to implement such processes.

What now?

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has received a formal direction to form new rules for strong identity verification before porting.

• An action plan based on findings will be released by the ACMA in November 2019.
• ACMA has been given time till the end of April 2020 to ensure that all telcos are compliant with the regulations.
• These regulations are said to be the first outcome of the Scam Technology Project that was launched last year.

What they’re saying

“The government expects all telcos to pull their weight. I want Australians to be confident that every telco has put in place strong verification processes to stop fraudulent mobile number porting and the devastating consequences it can have for victims,” said Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety, and the Arts.

ACMA member Fiona Cameron said, “Mobile number fraud can have devastating effects as scammers can gain access to bank accounts, email, social media and more. Identity theft has long-term ramifications as victims struggle to regain control over personal and financial information often over years.”