Country pack
Australia PII detection: TFN, Medicare card number
Short answer
Maskflare's Australia pack has 6 detectors. 3 validate a check digit or letter, 1 tests layout or an embedded date, 2 match on pattern alone.
What the Australia pack covers
The Australia pack holds 6 detectors: Bank account number, Medicare card number, Phone number, Postal code, Tax file number (TFN) and Tax file number (TFN), unformatted. 3 of them recompute a check digit or letter, 1 tests layout or an embedded date only, 2 are pattern-only, and 3 wait for a keyword before they match.
| Detector | Category | Validation | Valid example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank account number | bank account number (IBAN) | Pattern only | 062-000 12345678 |
| Medicare card number | national ID number | Checksum | 2123 45670 1 |
| Phone number | phone number | Layout rules | +61 2 9374 4000 |
| Postal code | postal code | Pattern only | 2000 |
| Tax file number (TFN) | tax ID | Checksum | 123 456 782 |
| Tax file number (TFN), unformatted | tax ID | Checksum | 123456782 |
Every Australia detector in detail
Bank account number
A bank account identifier. Validation: the pattern only, with no checksum or structural validator. It needs one of 6 keywords within 48 characters before the value, such as a/c, account no, account number, acct. Valid example: 062-000 12345678.
Medicare card number
A national identity number. Validation: a weighted modulus 10 check digit, a first digit of 2 to 6 and a non-zero issue number. A run of digits with no separator is judged by words nearby; the detector's own keywords include irn, medicare, medicare card, medicare number. Valid example: 2123 45670 1; the same shape that fails is 2123 45670 0.
Phone number
A telephone number in the national format. Validation: between 7 and 15 digits, the range an international number can have. Valid example: +61 2 9374 4000.
Postal code
A postal code, which identifies a place rather than a person on its own. Validation: the pattern only, with no checksum or structural validator. It needs one of 6 keywords within 48 characters before the value, such as post code, postal code, postcode, zip. Valid example: 2000.
Tax file number (TFN)
A tax identifier. Validation: a weighted sum divisible by 11, for 8 or 9 digits. Valid example: 123 456 782; the same shape that fails is 123 456 780. Full guide: Australian TFN.
Tax file number (TFN), unformatted
A tax identifier. Validation: a weighted sum divisible by 11, for 8 or 9 digits. It needs one of 3 keywords within 48 characters before the value, such as tax file no, tax file number, tfn. Valid example: 123456782; the same shape that fails is 123456780.
Local-language context words for Australia
These are the words in the catalogue that confirm a value as belonging to this country's detector. Shared English words such as ID number or tax id are left out here because many packs use them; a word below points at this pack even when other packs are on.
- Bank account number:
a/c,account no,account number,acct,bank account,bsb - Medicare card number:
irn,medicare,medicare card,medicare number - Postal code:
post code,postal code,postcode,zip,zip code,zipcode - Tax file number (TFN), unformatted:
tax file no,tax file number,tfn
How Maskflare masks Australia identifiers
Detections are replaced with a token such as mf_mask_d7e0 before the request goes to the AI provider, and with response restoration turned on the real value is put back in the answer. The other actions are redact, partial, hash, format-preserving encryption, generalize, alert and block.
- Protect now, Finance - Protect now, Healthcare and Developer: mask (a reversible token) when Australia is a primary country.
- Monitor first: alert (counted, forwarded unchanged) when Australia is a primary country.
None of the compliance profiles (HIPAA Safe Harbor, GDPR (EU/EEA), UK GDPR, PCI DSS v4.0, US PII (CCPA/CPRA) and Swiss nDSG health data) includes the Australia pack. Its detectors run when Australia is chosen as a primary country or the pack is enabled directly.
Limits worth knowing
- A passing checksum shows that a value is well formed, not that it was issued to a real person. The examples on this page pass for that reason and are not real.
- 2 of the 6 detectors here match on pattern alone (Bank account number and Postal code), so they can match text that merely has the same shape.
- Detectors read the text of the request. A value inside an image is found only after OCR, and a value split across lines is not one match.
- Names, addresses and free-text details are handled by other packs. This page is limited to the Australia identifiers.
Frequently asked questions
What does Maskflare detect for Australia?
6 detectors: Bank account number, Medicare card number, Phone number, Postal code, Tax file number (TFN) and Tax file number (TFN), unformatted.
Are Australia identifiers masked by default?
They are masked when Australia is chosen as a primary country (the default Protect now template uses the action mask), or when the pack is turned on directly. A country pack is not on for organisations that did not choose the country.
Which Australia identifiers have a checksum?
Medicare card number, Tax file number (TFN) and Tax file number (TFN), unformatted.
Do the Australia detectors need keywords?
3 of them do: Bank account number, Postal code and Tax file number (TFN), unformatted.
Rules on this page describe what Maskflare's detectors and validators check. They are read from the detection catalogue and are not the specification of the body that issues the identifier. Examples are synthetic.