Alastair Macgibbon
Cyber security

Tech giants are ‘wilfully blind towards criminality on their sites’ says Australia’s former cybersecurity boss

- November 1, 2024 3 MIN READ

Social media companies are being “contemptuous” to the Australian people and have done “nothing” to help protect their users from scams and crimes, according to former government cyber security tsar Alastair MacGibbon. MacGibbon, who after a 15-year career with the Australian Federal Police served as special adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security and… Read more »

Cyber security

Global cybercrime crackdown sees five arrested in Australia over phishing scam

- April 24, 2024 3 MIN READ

Five Australians have been arrested as part of a worldwide sting that took down a cybercrime platform acting as a “one-stop-shop” for phishing. Authorities from around the world teamed up to target LabHost, a cybercrime platform that offered users a “phishing kit” for a price, allowing them to steal the personal details and money of… Read more »

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Steve Martin & MIchael Caine
Cyber security

The ATO is Australia’s biggest cyber scams victim, losing $500m & revealing major flaws in the myGov ID system

- August 2, 2023 3 MIN READ

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) paid out more than half a billion dollars to cyber criminals between July 2021 and February 2023, according to an ABC report. Most of the payments were for small amounts (less than A$5,000) and were not flagged by the ATO’s own monitoring systems. The fraudsters exploited a weakness in the… Read more »

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Steve Martin & MIchael Caine
Cyber security

Scams are now costing Australians more than $3 billion a year

- April 17, 2023 3 MIN READ

Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to financial scammers in 2022. However, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suggests the real figure is likely much higher, with an estimated 30% of scams going unreported. The findings come from the watchdog’s Targeting Scams report, which combines data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Generative AI is about to become a $23 trillion industry – and that’s not counting its dark side of scams, deepfakes and romance bots

- February 7, 2023 4 MIN READ

The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write essays and code, generate music and artwork, and have entire conversations. But what happens when they’re turned to illegal uses? Last week, the streaming community… Read more »

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Steve Martin & MIchael Caine
Cyber security

Crypto is among 5 big trends in Australians getting scammed

- July 7, 2022 4 MIN READ

Greed, desire, wishful thinking and naivety are lucrative markets for scam artists – and their age-old hustles are increasingly being supplemented by digital chicanery. In 2021 Australians lost an estimated $2 billion to fraudsters, more than double that of 2020, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The consumer watchdog’s latest scam report details… Read more »

Scam, spam, text message, SMS
Cyber security

If you’re being bombarded with scam delivery messages, here’s why and what can be done

- September 25, 2021 5 MIN READ

For most people, the ping of an incoming SMS will induce some level of excitement — or mild intrigue at least. But with SMS scams on the rise, many may now be meeting this same sound with trepidation. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) ScamWatch website, scams delivered via “phone” or “text”… Read more »

smishing
Cyber security

Scammers have moved in on Australia Post’s delivery problems with SMS ‘flubots’

- September 3, 2021 3 MIN READ

Australians must be extra cautious about what messages they click on in coming weeks, after Australia Post’s three-day hiatus on package pickups created a new window for cybercriminals tweaking the Flubot ‘smishing’ attack to tap uncertainty around COVID test results, vaccines, and deliveries. More than 5,500 Australians have told the ACCC Scamwatch service that they have received text… Read more »