The department's e-health division head, Matthew Corkhill, ruled that it was against the public interest to release the 21-page report, Assessment of PCEHR Information Security Threat and Risk Assessments, in response to a Freedom of Information request lodged by The Australian in July.
Mr Corkhill said the report, which recommends strategies to mitigate potential vulnerabilities in the PCEHR program, continued to inform the ongoing operation and management of the program.
He said it was prepared for the sole use of the department to provide advice and proposals in relation to information security risk-management processes for the PCEHR system.
Mr Corkhill said revealing the report's content could "inform those whose motives are, or may be, to attack or destabilise the PCEHR system".
"It would be necessary for the department to escalate the level of vigilance and protection measures in order to combat this heightened level of vulnerability," he said.
"Quite apart from matters already resolved, this would present an additional front of substantial adverse effect on the department's operations," he wrote earlier this month.
According to Mr Corkhill, revealing the report's content would be contrary to the public interest as it would "hinder the adoption of a forward-looking approach to the operation of the national e-health records system which was developed through extensive public consultation and is now enshrined in commonwealth legislation".
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Fran Foo
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 23.10.2012
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