Learn the basics of how to protect your personal information during Privacy Awareness Week. Running from 1 – 7 May, this year’s theme is Back to Basics: Privacy foundations in NSW. 

The annual event is a great reminder about the fundamentals of privacy and highlights the basic steps everyone can take to keep the community's and your own personal information secure.

Here’s a few easy principles to follow to protect your privacy:

• Store – store personal documents such as passports, driving licences, pay slips, tax returns, bank statements and bills in a safe place.
• Destroy – Destroy or shred personal documents such as bills, receipts, credit card statements and other documents that show your name, address or other personal details.
• Secure - If you need to post personal documents, ask the post office for advice on the most secure method.
• Limit - Keep the number of documents you carry around to a minimum. Don’t leave personal documents in your vehicle or unattended.
• Check – Check your bank and credit card statements regularly for unusual transactions.
• Vary – Always use a different password and PIN for different accounts and take care when using public computers to access personal information.
• Accurate – Regularly check your records. Make sure your information is correct and up to date.
• Secret – Disable auto-connect to public Wi-Fi and never connect to public Wi-Fi on your work account. Use a VPN, incognito mode and/or ad blocking browser extensions, and clear out your cookie caches and browsing history to prevent your data and activity being collected.
• Ask – Get permission before you share photos or videos of someone, and don’t share posts that contain personal information. Never exchange sensitive information over email.
• Think – Think before you on click links or share posts. Social media platforms have around 20 per cent more methods to scam customers than other websites, including malicious advertisements, share buttons and plug-ins.
• Separate – Never use a work email address on a personal social media account. Use your own email address or create a separate one.
• Delete – Remove unused apps from your phone, and disable location, camera and microphone access where it’s not required.

If you are affected by a data breach, speak with Council's Privacy Officer and go to IdentityTheft.gov and work out the way forward.