Professor Paul Haskell-Dowland says cyber threats come from organised operations that are 'incredibly well-resourced' but there are steps you can take to protect yourself.
Paul Haskell-Dowland has been in the cybersecurity education and research domain for two decades — and he is on a mission to teach the rest of us how to stay safe online.The cost of cybercrime in Australia is incredibly high, though the figure is likely even greater than the reported data suggests."It was estimated [a couple of years ago] that the global cost of cybercrime … was going to hit the $1 trillion mark, and I believe it has passed that," he said.
"If we go back a few years and think about the Hollywood impression of cybersecurity, it was criminals in darkened rooms, sitting behind a keyboard, usually with a hoodie and tapping away at a computer and hacking into systems," he said.Criminals increasingly sophisticated "For the past few years, identity theft has been something that has raised alarm bells and people often see things like card-skimming being a bit of an issue."Professor Haskell-Dowland said there were several relatively simple ways individuals could protect themselves against cybercriminals.
Professor Haskell-Dowland, who personally has more than 500 passwords, recommends that passwords are not only unique to each site, but are also stored safely and securely."Even having a notepad of all of those passwords and keeping that locked away in a drawer at home is still better than having the same password on every single system.
Professor Haskell-Dowland says, unfortunately, many people still write down their passwords and leave them in obvious places.
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