privacy

CyberGuru talks cyber safety at Seniors Safety Forum

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CyberGuru talks cyber safety at Seniors Safety Forum

CyberGuru talks cyber safety at Seniors Safety Forum

Last Friday 17 August, Chris Jeffery, Chief Guru of CyberGuru presented to over 80 senior citizens of the Brisbane’s northside community on Cyber Safety, including both phone and internet scams at the Seniors Safety Forum.

The Seniors Safety Forum, the third of which Chris has presented, is an annual event held in the local area and hosted by Stirling Hinchliffe MP, Member for Sandgate and Councillor Jared Cassidy, Councillor for Deagon Ward, as part of Queensland Seniors Week.

In his session, Chris discussed a range of phone scams, including charity scams and the more recent NBN scams. He also addressed spamming and phishing, as well as tips for online shopping, passwords, internet security software, backups and more.

CyberGuru joined alongside other local organisations, including Council for the Ageing, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, Queensland Ambulance Service, Queensland Police Service, All About Living Sandgate, Home Assist Secure Sandgate, iHear to discuss safety in the home and in the community in the joint forum.

Chris fielded a range of questions from the audience after the session and provided copies of The Little Black Book of Scams to all who visited his display.

We thank Stirling and Jared for having us. If you would like any information on cyber safety, or presenting at an event which you feel would benefit, please contact us.

If would like any information about Seniors Safety Forum or other upcoming events as part of Queensland Seniors Week, please visit the Queensland Seniors Week website.

CyberGuru presenting at the Seniors Safety Forum

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CyberGuru presenting at the Seniors Safety Forum

CyberGuru presenting at the Seniors Safety Forum

Calling all seniors! Chris Jeffery of CyberGuru has been invited to speak at the Seniors Safety Forum at Sandgate on Friday 17 August at 1:00pm.

As this is the first year he will have access to a projector, Chris will be able to show examples of spam and phishing emails and demonstrate what to look for when determining if an email is legitimate.

The forum is hosted by Stirling Hinchliffe MP, Member for Sandgate and Cr Jared Cassidy, Councillor for Deagon Ward as part of National Seniors Week.

Seniors Safety Forum 2018 Flyer

For more information and to register please visit the Queensland Seniors Week website or call 07 3639 9100 (Stirling Hinchcliffe MP) or 07 3667 6011 (Cr Jared Cassidy).

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Who’s reading your email?

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Who’s reading your email?

Google Gmail

Recently in the news there has been concern over whether Google is doing enough to keep your email secure. Concern has arisen over the access third-party developers and apps have to your Google account. There are many apps which link to your Google account. During the installation process you set the level of access you’re prepared to give the app. If during the installation of any of these apps you’ve been asked for access to your email, and you’ve agreed to this your email may have been read.

So what does it mean to read an email? In giving an app access to your email it is highly unlikely that people envisage another human physically reading through the contents of their emails and viewing their private email conversations. But this is exactly what you are agreeing to. This is not to say all apps will do so, but they have permission to and may do so at some point. The people with permission to read your email are not Google employees, but third parties such as developers entrusted by Google (and yourself).

Google claims to vet developers and their apps via a stringent, multi-step process. But as Facebook can attest to, once a third party has access to your data it’s difficult to control how they use it. This is not the first time concerns have been raised over Google’s commitment to privacy, with the discovery last year that the Google Home Mini was inadvertently spying on users due to a hardware flaw.

As a safety precaution we advise against giving third-party apps permission to read your email. If you’re concerned you may have given a third-party app access to read your email, you can check using Google Security Checkup (link opens in new window) and make adjustments if necessary.

If CyberGuru can assist in any way, please let us know.

CyberGuru proudly supporting 2018 Privacy Awareness Week

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CyberGuru proudly supporting 2018 Privacy Awareness Week

2018 Privacy Awareness Week

CyberGuru is proud to be again a supporter of this year’s Privacy Awareness Week (PAW). This PAW is all about promoting privacy as part of everyday business. Running from 13 to 19 May, the theme “Privacy: from principles to practice’ focuses on the need for organisations to develop and reassess systems, processes, culture, and practice to make sure the protection of customers” personal information comes first.

Your privacy and personal information is valuable to us, which is why we are a PAW 2018 supporter. To help you understand how we handle personal information, we:

  • Having our displayed privacy policy informing you how we handle your personal information, including collecting only required information necessary to provide our products and services to you and not sharing your information with third-parties unless consent is provided.
  • Ensuring our website and email communications are secure and protected using HTTPS, SSL and encryption technologies.

You can get involved in PAW by discussing privacy with your customers and staff and taking steps to handle your personal information with care. Here are a few quick tips you can use today:

  1. Review the privacy policy of any new app or website where you enter personal information.
  2. Use passwords with a combination of letters and numbers, which aren’t easy to guess that are over eight characters.
  3. Check the privacy settings on your social media profiles and change them to your preferences.
  4. Respect other people’s privacy – ask for permission to post images or videos where they are Identifiable.
  5. Check for the padlock symbol and “https” at the start of a URL – this indicates that the website is secure.

If you would like to find out more about PAW and how your organisation can protect your customers’ personal information, we encourage you visit the PAW website. If CyberGuru can assist you in implementing the suggested practices, please contact us.

Are you ready for the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme?

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Are you ready for the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme?

Notifiable Data Breach Scheme

On Thursday 22 February 2018, the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme (NDBS) will come into effect. This will affect organisations that are already covered by the Privacy Act, businesses with a turnover greater than $3 million, health service providers, entities that collect personal information and credit reporting bodies.

The NDBS requires these businesses and organisations to report eligible data breaches to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as well as affected individuals.

The scheme requires affected businesses to take reasonable steps to ensure the security of personal information including but not limited to:

  • sensitive information such as about an individual’s health
  • documents commonly used for identity fraud (including Medicare card, drivers licence and passport details)
  • financial information

To prepare for the NDBS, we suggest the following three steps:

  1. Assess any security risks in your organisation.
  2. Put strategies in place to minimise these risks.
  3. Prepare a data breach response plan if you identify any suspected breaches.

CyberGuru can help your organisation address these through review and improvement of your computer systems, as well as implementation of training and education to staff, contractors, and ongoing support and advice on how to manage these. Please contact us for more information.

For further information regarding the NDBS can be found on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) (link opens in new window) website.