Media release: Integrity of data in the Births, Deaths and Marriages Register

The Auditor-General for New South Wales, Margaret Crawford, released a report today on whether the Department of Customer Service (the department) has effective controls in place to ensure the integrity of data in the Births, Deaths and Marriages Register, and to prevent unauthorised access and misuse.

The audit found that the department has processes in place to ensure that the information entered in the Register is accurate and that any changes to it are validated. Although there are controls in place to prevent and detect unauthorised access to, and activity in the Register, there were significant gaps in these controls. Addressing these gaps is necessary to ensure the integrity of information in the Register.

The Auditor-General made nine recommendations to the department, aimed at strengthening controls to prevent and detect unauthorised access to, and activity in the Register. These included increased monitoring of individuals who have access to the Register and strengthening security controls around the databases that contain the information in the Register.

The NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages is responsible for maintaining registers of births, deaths and marriages in New South Wales as well as registering adoptions, changes of names, changes of sex and relationships. Maintaining the integrity of this information is important as it is used to confirm people’s identity and unauthorised access to it can lead to fraud or identity theft.

Please contact Scott Stanton, Acting Deputy Auditor-General on 9275 7347 or by email.