Guidance for councils on how to prevent the theft of personal information and identification, such as data contained in rates notices, has been released by a New South Wales corruption watchdog.

The state's Independent Commission Against Corruption recently issued a guide for public sector bodies on how to prevent the theft of personal and confidential information and documents.

The guide is intended to help organisations such as councils identify the potential for theft of such information to occur, and suggests options for reducing the risk of such theft.

The guidance discusses both physical and computer-based issues surrounding the storage of personal information.

The new guide is available here.