Cyber expert advises on avoiding scams
Local detectives are warning locals to be vigilant about cyber safety, as the number of cyber fraud reports has increased dramatically. From romance scams to dodgy Facebook Marketplace sales, the cyber fraud caseload for Baw Baw's Criminal...
Australia's national identity and cyber support Service IDCARE visited Warragul recently to discuss cyber safety.
About 20 people attended the presentation, held at Warragul Community House and hosted by Cyber Security clinician and former ABC journalist Rob Blackmore.
Mr Blackmore said the presentation in Warragul and others across Gippsland was "extremely effective" in getting IDCARE's message across because of the recent Optus data breach.
"Prior to that, there wasn't a great deal of awareness around what cybersecurity was and what identity theft and fraud was," he said.
The sessions provided attendees with information about scams, cyber security and how to protect themselves from cybercrime.
IDCARE has found Australians living in regional and remote communities experience almost 40 per cent more losses on average per scam event than their city counterparts.
The organisation's role is to help victims of cybercrime.
"We help victims of cybercrime through a personalised response plan based on what's happened to them, what ID was lost, what issues occurred, how much money was stolen etcetera," Mr Blackmore explained.
"We give them specific, tailored advice to get their affairs back in order."
Some of the key areas covered in the session were password safety and management, Australia's credit system and credit bans, social media security and multifactor authentication.
"People still have the same password for all of their accounts, passwords that are the same... and have been the same for a long period time is one of the biggest risk factors," Mr Blackmore said.
"How to remember them and how to manage them is also a really big key problem that Australians face."
Mr Blackmore said if someone had the same password across numerous platforms and accounts, a cybercriminal could access all if one password was breached.
On password management, Mr Blackmore talked about password management systems and even writing passwords down.
"Cyber criminals aren't walking into your front door...a piece of paper or a little book at home is acceptable," he said.
Mr Blackmore said a common misconception about cybercrime was that only elderly people were affected. However, this is not the case - with IDCARE clients most commonly aged between 30 and 60.
There are numerous factsheets and cyber security education tools available on IDCAE's website.
"Criminals continually come up with new and creative and inventive ways to have our money, it's important - I think - to brief yourself on all of those that are there and IDCARE's website is a great place to start," he said.
