The financial services sector, which includes general insurance, has the best privacy governance because it is so highly regulated and holds regular staff training, according to this year’s Deloitte Australian Privacy Index.

The index questioned 1000 employees from the top 100 brands among listed and non-listed companies about protecting data and honouring customer privacy.

The top three industries – financial services, government and telecommunications and media – all feature privacy officers and regular privacy training, and require third parties to notify them of likely data breaches.

Deloitte Cyber Risk Services Partner Tommy Viljoen says regular training means employees can correctly identify a privacy impact assessment and know how to react to breaches.

About 40% of survey respondents received privacy training at induction or on an ad-hoc basis only.

The survey also shows bundled consent, terms and conditions or privacy policies cannot be relied on to manage information.

The Productivity Commission has called for greater controls allowing consumers to manage access to and the sharing of their data, similar to those in the EU.