Crime Stoppers Victoria update on Vision Australia RadioClare Dundas from Crime Stoppers Victoria is back! In this episode, Peter Greco learns valuable information from Clare to help minimise your chances of being hacked.
You can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 00
One of our regular guests last year and made a wonderful impression was Claire Dundas from Crime Stoppers Victoria. And great to welcome Claire back for 2023. Claire Happy New Year and thanks for coming on board again.
Hi Peter, It's great to be back with you and Happy New Year to you too.
Now we're happy, hopefully for everyone, but you got some warnings in very topical and timely regarding hackings.
I do. Hacking was a timely topic in 2022 with some very high profile incidents, but hacking is still around in 2023 and we need to be aware. We need to know a few tips and tricks on ways that we can protect ourselves. And just a little bit more about hacking. I think everyone could do with a bit of an update.
Okay. Got to define what is hacking. I mean, we've all heard about it on the news, etc.. Optus and Medibank kind of caught the brunt of it. But what is hacking, particularly if we're talking about individuals or smaller identities, if you like?
Yeah, at the most simplistic level. Hacking occurs when a scanner gains access to your personal information via devices such as your computer, mobile or network. So we're talking very simply about a scammer getting access to your computer, let's say, or your mobile phone and being able to access all of your data and personal information.
How can they do that, though? I've got my phone in my hand here. How can they possibly get hold of it?
Well, there's a few ways they can do that. But just to kind of give you the size of the problem here, Peter, Australians lost close to $3 million last year to hacking scandal. So we're not talking about a small amount of money here. We're talking about a sizeable problem.
So how do they do it? How do how do I how do they get me or how do I get hacked?
So there's many different ways that they can do it, but I'll go through some of the most common methods used. And the two terms that I'll bring up with you are malware and ransomware. Have you heard of them before? I've heard of them. So let me tell you what they are. Malware is where scan is. Trick you into installing software that gives them access to your computer and all your files. And you might think, Oh no, that would never happen to me. But they've got very tricky ways of doing it. And ransomware is where a scammer demands payment to unlock your computer or files. And both of these situations can cause a heap of stress. But the way that they do it is very tricky. So it could be initiated by a phone call to say that know something's been alerted that there's something wrong, whether it be an account of yours or your anti-virus protection software is out of date or there's so many different ways. And what they'll do is, in most cases, is offer to fix a problem. And by that, they need access to your computer. And then once you've given them access, you give them access to everything, and it comes with a host of problems. So we really need to be careful when it comes to giving access to anyone, to any of our devices or any of our accounts. But they do have very, very tricky ways of doing it. So I guess the other sort of piece of advice is to just be wary. If anyone's asking you to do anything, you just need to make sure that you think that they're a credible source.
What about things like links in emails or text messages that you wanted?
That is a huge problem too. So we kind of class that all together is exploiting security weaknesses, and that's a really commonly used method as well. And it's not really as technical as the malware in the ransomware. It's where they just stake out a weakness. And that could be an out of date antivirus software. So they're able to get into your devices easily, get passwords or reuse passwords. And then another really common one is the unsecured Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection. So if you're out and you've connected to the free public Wi-Fi, that's a great chance for scammers to get in and get into your devices there. So, okay, regardless of the why they're getting in, they just once they're in, they can they've got access to everything.
Well, a lot of cafes, public libraries, a lot of organisations or situations like that do have free public Wi-Fi. So what sort of things should you not do when you've got access to those? If you're, you know, either with someone or on your own maybe having a coffee and you're, you know, fiddling around on the Internet.
So you can by all means use public Wi-Fi and the free Wi-Fi that you stay around, but don't be using any of or accessing any sensitive information when you're on those. So don't access your bank accounts. Don't access any of your personal details when you are logged into those secure wi fi connected sorry unsecured Wi-Fi connections. Your y fi at home is a secured Wi-Fi connection when you're out and about that's unsecured. And we don't want you to be dealing with any of your sensitive information.
One of the things I did learn from you last year in particular was passwords either important to be there, need to change them and also make sure you're not using password as your password.
Absolutely. We. They'd go into that and password high grade. It comes up all the time. We've heard it so many times, you know. Use really complicated passwords. Make sure that it's really long. And it's a combination of numbers and, you know, symbols and and letters and all these sort of things. But it actually is crazy to think how important that is because these scammers are professional at guessing passwords. They do it all the time. They have software that they can put in to try and guess your password as well. So it just I don't even have to think of it. So the more complicated we can make it and in the simple things, it's not using the same password for different accounts and don't reuse all passwords. These things can really help protect us.
What about knowing that we've been hacked? If we have suspicions, are there some telltale signs? Are there things that we or indeed, you know, might be someone we know or love, maybe someone we're caring for, someone that we're kind of helping out as far as their Internet stuff goes? Are there things that we should be on guard about as far as maybe telltale signs?
Absolutely. And one of them that stuck out to me that I thought, oh, gosh, I wouldn't normally think of that is if your computer is running slow is a warning sign. So your computer running slow and you might not notice, but there could be a new icon, pop pop up on your screen. And that means that the hacker has gotten in and they've downloaded some software to be able to access your personal information there. So if your computer's running slow for no reason at all and you've got all your software in check and things, that could be a warning sign for you. So it's something to definitely take note of. Another one? Yeah. Files that have been removed or deleted on your computer. So you haven't done it, but for some reason you can't locate a file or it's been deleted. That's another telltale sign that you could have been hacked.
So basically what you're saying is, if those instances show up, someone's actually got into your computer, you know, they haven't actually physically opened up your computer typing your password and got in. But remotely that that somehow got in.
It could be definitely a sign to tell you that they have. So these are some of the things that we should be looking out for. Another one is you're an able to log in to your device, personal account or online account. So if you're being shot at and you know that you're using the right password, you've logged in yesterday and all of a sudden you can't log in the next day. It could be the case where a hacker has gotten in and then they've changed your password on you so you no longer have access. So this would be another warning sign.
You've touched on the password thing, and that's very, very good message. What about as far as keeping things up to date, as far as your software guys or your anti-spyware guys? And how important is that?
Oh, it is so important. The other one just to watch out for is pop up boxes that might appear on your screen. So you're just using your laptop, as you always would, but a pop up box comes onto your screen asking you to actually suggesting that you have a problem and that they can fix the problem. That is definitely a warning sign and do not click on it. But as you just mentioned, keeping your computer software up to date is so important and make sure that you're doing regular updates and conducting scans where they can scan through your computer to make sure that there's no malware or ransomware on there. The technology is that could take days. But the other tip on that one is to make sure that you're buying your software from a source in the first place. You know, I scan is that you can put software out there that they say is antivirus software, but it's actually giving them the access to your computer. So make sure you buy it from a reputable source. Okay.
Well, I think we probably kind of all know the therapy for once and maybe also to speak to friends or family that might be using stuff that they recommend or they think is working well for them. That might be another kind of checklist to tick off as far as reputable work goes. Clearly, if someone is hacked and I know, you know, I probably people would be embarrassed about sort of admitting to the fact what what should we do? I mean, there's no point in doing nothing, is there? Because the next person might get tagged as well.
Absolutely not. There are a few steps that we can definitely take and it can help the next person. You write, you know, out of these hacking situations that arise through phishing emails and those text messages, those pesky text messages that we always get that say, here is a link, update your contact details, update your personal details, something's going wrong, your accounts going wrong, even when it comes to hacking. And in these situations, that's a key method. So don't ever open those links in text messages, emails that say you need to update your personal details. They are generally a scam, so please don't do that. Be very wary. You can report jump these days. You can report phishing emails. Please do that if you can. But if you do think you're a victim of hacking, notify your financial institution immediately. So they will put a block on your account and make sure that no money goes out, because at the end of the day, Peter, they're hacking your accounts to get your personal information for malicious purposes, whether that be selling it to other bodies or parties or whatever it may be. Or they're trying to access your money. So the first step is to definitely contact your financial institution and then change your passwords. So they're not able to access your accounts. That would be the next thing. And then we can always launch an incident that's occurred with report cyber and report cyber, present all the reports to the police and then they are then investigated. So report cyber is the place to go for any any hacking, any online scams. And if we want to do a further check, we can also run that software, the antivirus scan, to remove any malware as well.
Okay. And don't be embarrassed by a domain name. You know, some he has some very reputable, well known people, probably people who thought they were pretty savvy, technically wise, have been hacked. So you're certainly not alone. And I guess it's less than hardly clear. I also believe that, you know, sometimes actually, you can detect that you've been hacked because money might go missing in your account.
Absolutely. That's a red hot warning sign. If you say money that's going out of your account and you definitely did not spend it, there has been something that's gone wrong and that could be a hacking incident. But, Peter, I have seen people close to me that I would say are very you know, they're up with technology, they're very savvy and they've been scammed and they've been hacked by these, you know, methods that are used. And after the fact, everyone's upset and they feel embarrassed, like you said. But they are just they're professionals. These people are professionals at hacking. So they really do use methods that trick people. Absolutely, they do.
You've covered a lot. There is anything that you'd like to wrap up with. A lot of good information there, and I think we can all identify with it very readily and very easily. Anything else before we wrap up?
I think the key message that I want to get across is just the links in the emails and the text messages that get sent out all the time. It's just we must delete those messages and do not click on the links, because sometimes when we even click on websites or free downloads or different website access, they can actually gain access to our devices through that. So we really need to be careful when it comes to clicking on any links from a stranger or I mean, they do impose bodies in organisations as well, but just stay away from those links.
Terrific. Well, it's a very serious topic, but also very timely given the end of 2022, if people want to find out more. If you've got information up on your Crime Stoppers Victoria website.
We do and that is Crimestoppers week dot com today. We've got more information there. There is a vast amount of information on the Internet these days when it comes to tips and tricks to help protect you. I've been watching tutorials recently on changing the settings on my phone to make sure that I can't be tracked and spammed. And have you ever had a situation, Peter, where you might be talking about something and then you get served an ad on your site locally?
Yes. Or you're searching for something and all of a sudden that ad comes up.
Absolutely. So there's ways of turning those things off in our settings. So we've got settings on our phone that are all set to a default setting which allows everything to be tracked. It's actually ways that we can turn them off. And there's lots of tutorials that are out there now that can help us with that.
Great information for new listeners. So welcome. Clare joins us once every two months on focal point and once every two months on this link. So was a wonderful addition to the radio station last year I'm sure to continue through 2023. Thank you for joining us and we'll catch up next month.
Thank you, Peter. Thank you so much.
Played down to us there from Crime Victoria. And you can always also give them a call if you prefer, the telephone, one 800 333, 000. And as always, we'll put that information up on our Facebook page.
