There are now three ways an Australian government agency can gain access to encrypted information:

1. ask you to voluntarily help them
2. demand your help
3. force you build new functions in your systems to help them

As a company, if you don’t comply you could be hit with a fine of up to almost $10 million Austrailian dollars.

You do have a defense though – if the requests will undermine your encryption systems, making them inherently less secure you do not have to comply.

 Wendy Mansell also contributed to this article