Insurer looks to Indian outsourcing. Which major insurance group — which has just announced it is closing all the branches of one brand because it claims customers prefer doing business by phone — is about to send a senior management team to India to investigate outsourcing? We’re not sure, but according to one tipster the team leaves in two weeks with feelers out to ship call centre and administration jobs offshore. The group is currently going through large numbers of redundancies to cut costs, we’re told — results are poor, and not just because of recent natural disasters. Do you know who it is?

Baillieu will acknowledge some. Victorian premier Ted Baillieu recently announced the government would drop the “inappropriate” welcome to country acknowledgement of indigenous elders that has become a fairly standard practice in recent years at major public events. But seems he’s not above acknowledging some. As one mole reports: “At the launch of the premier’s sustainability awards on Thursday, Baillieu caused some consternation when he instead started by paying tribute to the founders of Melbourne who ‘don’t get the credit they deserve’. The premier then left without waiting for the keynote speaker. The reaction of the audience was apparent when they gave the head of Grocon Construction (the winner of an award for green buildings) a standing ovation for later offering his own welcome to country acknowledgement.”

Tourism blackout on Victorian site. Victorian tourism website visitvictoria.com (and its sister visitmelbourne.com) has apparently died. The site — one of the most significant portals for tourists looking at the Garden State, we’re told — has stopped adding new content until late July due to a back-end upgrade. As we’re informed by one disgruntled tourism operator: “Events and attractions occurring over that period can not promote to tourists via this critical website if they missed the unannounced deadline.”

Fairfax journos: escape to Bangkok. Fairfax may be shedding staff at home, but it’s adding a bureau in Bangkok to contribute to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. An email to Age staff last week called for applications:

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald will re-establish a South-East Asia bureau. Applications are invited from Age journalists who would like to relocate to Bangkok on the basis of salary plus travel and working expenses. The successful candidate will have a good understanding of the political, economic and social issues of the region, high-level skills in presenting news, features and commentary across all platforms, and a willingness to travel in sometimes challenging circumstances. Please submit applications to Mark Baker by Friday, June 17.

Security breach at directors’ body. Seems the Australian Institute of Company Directors has had a security breach — and it’s warning its members their details may have fallen into the wrong hands. CEO John H C Colvin emailed:

Dear Member or Client,

I am writing to you about a robbery at our National Office in Sydney last weekend, presently being investigated by police. During a scheduled power outage affecting the whole of the building, which temporarily disabled normal security measures restricting access to our premises, a computer was stolen from our office.

Unfortunately the stolen computer contained some details about you which may include your name, membership number, residential or business addresses, telephone numbers and date of birth. The computer may have also included your personal assistant’s name, phone number and email address, where you have provided this information. The data is, however, protected by a number of security measures.

We can reassure you that the stolen computer did not contain data about your credit card numbers or banking details, your email address or passwords.

While we understand that there is a low level of risk of the data being accessed and used for fraudulent purposes we take matters of this nature very seriously.

On becoming aware of the robbery we contacted the police and we have also engaged forensic investigators to assist. We are doing everything we can to retrieve the stolen computer, with the help of those parties. At the same time we are reviewing all the security systems protecting our offices and data.

While, as I mentioned earlier, we understand that there is a low risk of the data being accessed and used for fraudulent purposes, I ask that as an added precaution, that you:

  • Be alert for suspicious phone calls or other communications, including requests for payment details or other information about you;
  • Ask your personal or executive assistant to also be alert; and
  • Please let us know immediately if you have any concerns or suspicions.

If you have any queries or concerns, please call us toll free on 1300 66 44 63. The assistance line will operate today between 9am and 7pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, 9am-5pm AEST Monday to Friday (including public holidays) and 10am-4pm on weekends.

For further suggestions on steps you may wish to take to protect yourself, please see the government’s booklet, Protecting your Identity, available via https://www.ag.gov.au/identitysecurity.

We at Company Directors take the privacy of our members and clients very seriously and have been working with both the police and the Privacy Commissioner to take such steps as appropriate.

While the information was protected by a number of premises security and electronic data security measures, we are actively reviewing the ways in which these could be further improved.

We stress that this loss of data was the result of criminal activity involving the theft of computer hardware. Please be assured that we have strong data security precautions in place and that our data storage and other systems, including our website, are not compromised in any way.

Yours sincerely,

John H C Colvin
CEO & Managing Director