Researchers at Victoria University (VU) are working on a new electronic data system that they claim will eliminate internal privacy breaches in medical research. Professor Yanchun Zhang, director of VU’s Centre for Applied Informatics, has received a $295,000 grant from the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Project Scheme. The university has previously received $150,000 from industry partner Next Online to help fund the three-year project. The new grant will help fund work on new privacy algorithms to significantly improve access to health data in medical research. In a statement, Professor Zhang said protecting patient privacy has been an ethical stumbling block for medical researchers striving for advances in the various fields. “There have been many cases which show current systems are vulnerable to internal attack, with staff accessing patient records they are not authorised to access,” Professor Zhang said. “The project will develop electronic data systems to overcome current problems to support data sharing among medical researchers without breaching patient privacy.” He highlighted Medicare as an example where unauthorised access from internal staff compromised patient privacy. In 2010, Medicare investigated staff for spying on customers’ personal information. Professor Zhang said creating new privacy preserves algorithms in database federations will provide efficient data access yet block unauthorised access. “The medical knowledge that can be mined once these barriers are removed will significantly improve the quality of healthcare in Australia,” he said. The Linkage Projects Grants Scheme funds collaborative research and development projects. Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia Follow Byron Connolly on Twitter:@ByronConnolly Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe