TIME TO UP OUR DIGITAL DEFENCES

One-third of us will get scammed by cyber crims

ONE in three Australians can expect to be impacted by cyber crime or a data breach which releases their personal details, according to a Deakin cyber security expert.

Last week Barwon Health, along with many other rural services, experienced a significant cyber security incident that impacted many of its IT systems.

With the support of a team of cyber security experts, the health service has been progressively restoring IT system access.

Damien Manuel, the director of Deakin University’s Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation, said the risk had increased from one in four Australians only a few years ago as cyber criminals find more creative ways to hack through digital defences.

“Australians lost more than $10 million to scammers last year and cyber crime appears headed in one direction,” Mr Manuel said.

“Everyone has a story about a relative, parent or child who has been a victim of digital crime through a phone or email scam, a malicious website or attachment like ransomware.

“Last week we saw a number of hospitals and patients impacted across Victoria.”

Mr Manuel said emails or SMS messages that require urgent action are often a warning sign to consumers, especially if these items contain links.

“As curious, social animals, we are often more trusting than we should be,” Mr Manuel said.

“When we are connecting with people by phone, over the internet or by email, we don’t see body language cues that we normally use to assess risk in people we don’t know.

“It is also easy for scammers to use fear to get people to become compliant and follow instructions and orders, such as looking like the tax office or police.

“They manipulate our anxieties and then force us to make decisions fast without thinking through the consequences.”

Mr Manuel said it was important to be more cautious with people you encounter online.

“Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know and remain suspicious when you hear from people you do know,” he said. “It is very easy to attack someone via email as malicious codes can be buried in photos, PDFs or attached documents.

“If you don’t need to open something, don’t open it.

“If someone calls and pretends to be from the ATO, Telstra, Optus, or so on, ring them back, but use (contact) details from an old bill or directly from their website.”