Could you be Australia’s next cyber crime victim?
A public lecture at UNSW this week will highlight how Australians are increasingly targets of cyber crime and that the problem has reached “epidemic” proportions.
Published on the 28 May 2012
UNSW Public Lecture It Won't Happen to Me: Cyber Crime Myths and Concepts
Could you be the next victim of cyber crime? According to the experts, the answer is an emphatic yes.
Two-thirds of internet-using adults have been victim to cyber criminals – some 431 million people worldwide – arecent international study found, and Australians are increasingly targets.
Private investigator Ken Gamble – who co-founded the agency Internet Fraud Watchdog – says the problem in Australia has reached “epidemic” proportions. Gamble is a keynote speaker at a public forum It Won’t Happen to Me: Cyber Crime Myths and Concepts at the University of New South Wales this week (Wednesday, 30 May).
“We are talking billions of dollars of losses from victims who have been caught up in scams, who have been defrauded in transactions or who have had their credit card details stolen and sold on the black market,” Gamble says.
As well as human impact, the Norton Cyber Crime Report 2011 found cyber crime cost the world economy $109 billion last year.
“It’s very important for everyone to understand the implications of what’s occurring, to be aware that cyber crime is happening all around us, to be secure and protect online information, and to make sure that kids are educated about cyber security,” Gamble says.
Also speaking at the forum: Alana Maurushat, from UNSW’s Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre; Mike Taylor,cyber crime victim and businessman; and Detective Inspector Bruce van der Graaf, from the NSW Police Fraud and Cybercrime Squad.
“This one of the most complex problems we’ve faced in the past 200 years and there is no simple solution,” Maurushat says. “Leading the fight will be the market and technology, which are far more effective at disrupting the cyber criminal’s economic model than the law.”
Experts are critical of Australia’s slow response to the new cyber realities.
“Australian banks are only now starting to upgrade their technologies and authentication methods, something that should have been done years ago,” Maurushat says. “When it comes to scams and frauds there is no national group tasked with coordinating efforts to tackle cyber crime, and that’s a real problem.”
What: It Won’t Happen to Me: Cyber Crime Myths and Concepts public forum When: 6.00pm for 6.30pm–8.00pm, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 Where: Leighton Hall, The John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW Kensington Campus Bookings are essential.
Please click here to register online or email alumni@unsw.edu.au
Media contact: Steve Offner | UNSW Media Office | 0424580 208 or 02 9385 810