Discover Cyber Safety in Australia

Risks and Threats

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and australian federal police report that the number of cyber crime incidents in the country has been increasing over the years.

In 2020, the ACSC responded to 67,500 cybersecurity incidents, which is an increase of 13% from the previous year.

The most common types of cyber threats include phishing, malware, and ransomware attacks.

Phishing attacks are one of the most prevalent types of cyber crime in the country, with cyber criminals using increasingly sophisticated methods to deceive individuals and businesses into giving away sensitive information.

Malware and ransomware attacks involve the use of malicious software to gain unauthorized access to a system, steal data, or demand a ransom.

What Can Individuals and Organizations Do to Protect Themselves?

To protect themselves, individuals and organizations in Australia must take a proactive approach to cybersecurity. Some of the measures that can be taken include:

1. Use of Strong Passwords:
   One of the simplest ways to protect against cyber crime is to use strong passwords. This involves using complex passwords that are difficult to guess and changing them frequently.
2. Two-Factor Authentication:
   Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to logins. This involves using a password along with a second factor, such as a fingerprint or a text message.
3. Software Updates:
   Regular software updates are crucial to keep systems secure. Updates often include security patches that protect against known vulnerabilities.
4. Awareness Training:
   Cybersecurity awareness training is essential for individuals and organizations to stay informed about the latest threats and how to protect against them.
5. Use of Antivirus Software:
   Antivirus software is an essential tool for protecting against malware and other malicious software.

Technology at Sparkmate

Builders and overachievers at hearth, we strive to build the best products possible in all circumstances.

Thanks to our team of ambitious and passionate developers, engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs, we've built products in many areas, including Web3.

One of our creations is StaySAFU, an application that scans a token to figure out its risks and potential security flaws.

What makes a good password?

To understand the strength of what protects your online content, we first have to understand how attackers can figure out your password.

Passes and keys are stored on servers, but not in plain text, for security measures, these are encrypted.

When an attacker hacks a website and takes a hold of users encrypted passwords, they first have to decrypt them.

One of the most used methods is called brute force.

Essentially, a hacker will try to guess your password, which he will encrypt and then check to see if it matches the encrypted version of your password which he found on the server.

This is done at incredible speeds, often attempting over 1,000,000 passwords per second.

How would a hacker try and guess my password?

Thanks to social networks, an attacker can very easily figure out your name, date and place of birth, name of pets or loved ones and even more.

With this information, a hacker could try combinations of names and dates followed by special characters and so forth.

An attacker will also try frequently used passwords such as iloveyou, password, and variations of these such as il0v€y0u and p@SsW0rd!.

How can I protect myself?

Now that we understand how people might attack us, it seems clear that having a long password is going to be more difficult to figure out.

Try not to use your name, address, names of relatives, symbolic dates and such as these are easy to find.

A strong password will hold randomness, you could pick out random words in the dictionary and make that your password, for example : Double?Computer?Shoes?House.

Password Managers

Such tools can come in very handy.

They hold all your passwords in a secure environment which you can access with just one unique passwords.

This means you can create one very safe and complicated password which you will use to access all your other passwords.

This comes in extra handy as you can set your other passwords to very complicated random character sequences and never have to remember them.

Dashlane is often considered to be the best tool available.

Protecting children and young people online

Online safety in anonymous online activities can be especially complicated.

A young person can easily fall victim to image based abuse, cyberbullying and ill-intentioned communication strategies.

NGOs like Thinkuknow Australia are approaching this cyber security issue through education, and online resources to support young people, kids, and students.

Online safety has become part of prevalent online issues, especially for young people.

Parents have a pivotal role to play, introducing technology in the household and giving kids the right resources goes a long way to help them face the internet.

Businesses and cloud security

Cloud security is a critical aspect of cyber safety for businesses around the globe.

With the increasing adoption of cloud-based services, businesses must take measures to ensure that their data and applications stored on the cloud are secure from cyber threats.

Cloud security involves implementing security measures such as data encryption, multi-factor authentication, access controls, and continuous monitoring of the cloud infrastructure.

It is also important for businesses to work with reputable cloud service providers who have robust security measures in place and comply with industry standards and regulations.

By prioritizing cloud security, businesses can mitigate the risks of data breaches, cyber-attacks, and other security incidents that can lead to financial losses and reputational damage.