HPX Group has today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire leading privacy consultancy Salinger Privacy, merging it with the Group’s Helios business to provide organisations with a whole-of-business solution for navigating Australia’s evolving privacy landscape.
Founded in 2004 by one of Australia’s most respected experts in privacy law and practice, Salinger Privacy is well recognised in the areas of privacy consulting, training and resources. Helios brings together legal, privacy and information security specialists to advise on front-end privacy program design and implementation, legal and regulatory advice and compliance, and data breach and cyber incident response.
Together, Helios and Salinger Privacy will provide organisations with access to a comprehensive suite of wrap-around information security and privacy support services.
Salinger Privacy founder Anna Johnston said recent and impending legal reforms, increased regulatory scrutiny and heightened consumer awareness means organisations need a co-ordinated and holistic approach to help them manage their privacy law compliance, and maintain the trust of their customers.
“With the latest wave of the Government’s privacy law reforms released earlier this month, organisations economy-wide will need to uplift the maturity of their data handling practices. Every enterprise needs to ensure they have right-sized privacy policies and frameworks, and appropriate training and compliance resources. This is not only to meet evolving legal requirements, but also community expectations as to how personal information is collected, handled and protected,” said Anna.
She added: “Customers and regulators alike now better understand that poor data handling practices can make businesses vulnerable to large-scale data breaches, as well as costly privacy complaints. Privacy sits at the intersection of law, technology and ethics – and in the age of AI, that means privacy compliance is where the rubber really hits the road. No matter what sector they are in, businesses and brands can’t afford to rely on a ‘set and forget’ mentality.”
Nick Humphrey, CEO of HPX Group, said organisations needed to consider not only their legal, but also reputational, risk in how they approached their data privacy obligations. “As we’ve seen from high-profile data breaches, the impact in terms of consumer churn and loss of trust in the brand when people’s personal information is placed at risk can be enormous. It makes good business sense to view the protection of personal information not as a cost of doing business but as an investment in a valuable asset.”