From Mining to MedTech: Industry-Specific DSPM Use Cases for Australian Organisations

Change is constant in data security, but it’s also non-negotiable given the vast range of cyber attacks targeting Australian industries.

Through two key reforms, Australia’s Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SOCI) underwent significant amendments. The first change in 2021 expanded its earlier coverage from four sectors (electricity, water, gas, and ports) to a total of 11 sectors: mining, energy, healthcare and medical, transport, financial services and markets, data storage and processing, food and grocery, higher education and research, space technology, communications, and the defence industry.

The second change in 2022 mandated that under the Critical Infrastructure Risk Management Program (CRIMP), all 11 sectors would proactively identify and mitigate risks to critical assets, including sensitive operational information and personal data.

However, sectors like mining, energy, and healthcare face unique challenges in meeting these new obligations. This blog explores how data security posture management (DSPM) can be tailored to the unique data environments of specific sectors, demonstrating practical use cases aligned with SOCI mandates.

Why Industry-Specific DSPM Matters

With Australia experiencing a record high of 1,113 data breaches reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in 2024 – a 25% increase from 2023 – developing nuanced strategies that address the varying risks faced by different industries is vital. For example, healthcare providers and the Australian Government were the top targeted sectors, comprising 20% and 17% of all breaches, respectively.

Benefits of Sector-Specific Data Security

The reality is that not all data is created equal. Information assets vary in criticality, value, and risk, meaning each industry’s business model, operational environment, regulatory landscape, and threat vectors differ as well.

Strategically customising data protection per industry:

Enables the appropriate incident response plan specific to sectoral impact, minimising the damage to daily operations and reputation.
Supports better compliance with sector-specific regulations; for example, SOCI requirements vary per sector, while specific industries like telecommunications must abide by the Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms (TSSR).
Facilitates focused resource allocation for sectors to prioritise their most business-critical or sensitive information assets, enabling cost-effective decision-making.
Identifies legacy operational technologies and systems that create unique vulnerabilities per sector; for example, the energy sector tends to leverage operational technologies (OT) that entail physical equipment, while the communications sector is primarily data-centric.
Prioritises risks relevant to critical functions per sector, like confidentiality in research efforts or availability for the transport sector.

By tailoring data controls to specific sectors, critical risks are addressed appropriately, avoiding the pitfalls of a one-size-fits-all data approach. Painting all controls with the same protection brush can impose unnecessary security demands – along with added operational costs and complexities – on sectors that don’t face the same level or type of risk.

How DSPM Supports Sector-Specific Data Security

DSPM enables industry-specific contextualisation by:

Tailoring data controls to each sector’s operational reality, whether legacy OT technologies for energy or cloud-native platforms for financial services.
Aligning sensitive data with the specific regulatory frameworks to each industry, such as SOCI for the defence sector and APRA CPS 234 for financial organisations.
Optimising protection to avoid excessive security for industries with lower exposure and ensuring cost-effective, proportionate security guardrails.

Together with proactive assessment, DSPM transforms fragmented security efforts into unified intelligence that anticipates threats before they materialise.

DSPM and Australia's Mining Sector

What many don’t realise is that mining organisations hold sensitive and proprietary information. For example, geological telemetry involves real-time or recorded data that spans exploration and drilling activities that could reveal the location and even potential value of mineral deposits. The mining sector typically uses special techniques to optimise extraction methods. These techniques represent intellectual property (IP) and may even involve patents.

When leaked, competitors can exploit such data, possibly leading to market manipulation. Given that these locations involve strategic national resources, their value is relevant to both economic and geopolitical interests.

How DSPM Supports Australia's Mining Sector

DSPM provides enhanced security to the mining industry by:

Tailoring controls to legacy OT systems and siloed data environments.
Identifying and protecting sensitive data like geological telemetry and proprietary extraction methods.
Focusing on risks tied to operational disruption and IP theft.
Optimising protection to avoid over-securing low-risk assets.

This targeted approach protects sensitive geological data and proprietary resource information while maintaining operational efficiency.

DSPM and Australia's Healthcare Sector

Patient data contains a wide range of personally identifiable information (PII) like demographics (age, gender, ethnicity), medication, and family medical history, not to mention treatment records. But we also need to consider imaging data, which involves results from medical imaging tests like X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, and the like. For example, these imaging results show anatomical structure, physiological functions, or any abnormalities critical for accurate diagnoses. These are made up of raw image files or annotations, which constitute unstructured or semi-structured data.

Under the Privacy Act 1988 and the My Health Records Act 2012, imaging data is classified as sensitive and is subject to laws mandating strict controls over how it should be collected, stored, accessed, and disclosed.

In Australia, healthcare has emerged as the most targeted sector by malicious actors. In 2024, MediSecure, a prescription delivery service provider, admitted to experiencing a “large-scale ransomware data breach” — affecting an estimated 12.9 million Australians and their personal and health data and highlighting the need for better security guardrails for medical institutions.

Since both patient and imaging data are rich sources of protected health information (PHI), cybercriminals consider them valuable assets for identity theft, insurance fraud, and medical impersonation. Both kinds of data also offer long-term exploitability, since medical data has a longer lifecycle, unlike credit card information, which can be deactivated on short notice.

How DSPM Supports Australia's Healthcare

DSPM enables the protection of sensitive health information by:

Adapting controls to electronic medical record (EMR) systems and hybrid or multi-cloud environments.
Mapping patient records and imaging data to OAIC and My Health Records Act requirements.
Prioritising risks like possible privacy violations and ransomware.
Streamlining protection to focus on high-risk data flows.

This comprehensive approach maintains patient trust while meeting strict regulatory requirements.

DSPM and Australia's Financial Services Industry

According to IBM’s report, the average Australian data breach costs institutions as much as AU$4.33 million (around US$2.83 million). The same report indicates that financial organisations spend as much as AU$9.32 million or US$6.08 million on security incidents — 22% higher than the average spend worldwide.

Given the extensive volumes of sensitive data processed by these organisations — customer PII, credit histories, and transaction records, these data types fall under the strict regulatory oversight of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s Cross-Industry Prudential Standards (APRA CPS), specifically:

CPS 220 – Risk Management establishes board-level accountability and enterprise-wide risk management frameworks that embed information security within the institution’s broader risk culture and governance structure.
CPS 230 – Operational Risk Management elevates operational risk management by requiring organisations to identify, assess, and manage operational risks while mandating resilience planning and incident response capabilities for business continuity.
CPS 234 – Information Security mandates comprehensive information security governance by requiring entities to detect and report any significant control weaknesses while implementing appropriate remediation measures and regulatory notifications when issues persist.

These frameworks ensure compliance while protecting customer assets and market confidence.

How DSPM Supports Australia's Financial Services Sector

DSPM helps to safeguard critical financial data by:

Adapting controls to hybrid environments and cloud-native platforms.
Mapping transaction records and customer PII to APRA CPS 234.
Prioritising risks like fraud and insider threats.
Streamlining protection to focus on sensitive financial models and data flows.

DSPM and Australia’s MedTech and Life Sciences Sector

Like healthcare providers, medtech firms generate extensive volumes of sensitive data such as PHI due to the number of clinical trials they conduct. This data includes biometric data, genetic profiles, and treatment outcomes. Meanwhile, research and development (R&D) data involves drug formulations, device prototypes, as well as experimental designs that represent intellectual property. Like other sectors, any data leak can compromise an organisation’s competitive edge, trigger legal battles, and erode investor confidence.

How DSPM Supports Australia's MedTech and Life Sciences Sector

DSPM helps secure sensitive information in medtech firms and life sciences organisations by:

Configuring controls to cloud-hosted R&D and third-party integrations.
Aligning clinical trial data and device telemetry with requirements by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the National Clinical Trials Governance Framework (NCTGF), and the Good Clinical Practice Inspection Program (GCPIP).
Focusing on risks like data leakage and IP theft.
Optimising protection to secure high-value research without impeding significant medical innovation.

This approach safeguards valuable research while accelerating innovation to market.

Why Tailored DSPM Is Vital for Securing Australia's Organisations

A sector-specific DSPM approach is essential to safeguarding Australia’s critical infrastructure today because it enables adaptability, control, and tailored visibility across each industry's unique and complex data environment. By integrating comprehensive data visibility, robust protection, and seamless compliance automation, an integrated and modern DSPM framework goes beyond reactive security with continuous classification and monitoring of critical data.

This proactive governance empowers users across Australia’s various industries to make secure decisions from the start, reducing risks like ransomware and data breaches. Through unified, actionable intelligence and recommended insights delivered in a single pane of glass, sector-specific DSPM transforms data complexity into a strategic advantage — fostering resilient, compliant, and cost-effective protection aligned with Australia’s evolving regulatory demands and threat landscapes.