How to stay safe online
"Dear Friend,
I am writing to you today with an amazing business opportunity. I am the second cousin twice removed of the Crown Prince of Nigeria and upon his death have inherited ten billion dollars which I would like to transfer to your account today."
"They work! People get suckered into it!" laughed Adjunct Professor Nigel Phair after I asked naively whether the endless flood of obviously spam emails that clog our inboxes actually work.
As Director of the University of Canberra's Centre for Internet Safety, the author of two books on cybercrime, and the Australian media's 'go-to' expert on everything internet safety, Nigel is a leading authority on how to stay safe online.
From scam emails, to piracy, cryptocurrency and protecting your identity and professional reputation, the internet can be a big, dark and scary place. But with a little common sense and understanding of what to look out for it can be easy to navigate your way through the internet and get all of its great benefits without any of the risk.
"Real life" versus "online"
The fact is in many ways we all act very differently online to what we do offline.
We are wary of handing over even the smallest piece of personal information face-to-face, yet blindly provide endless data to giant multinational companies. We carefully protect cash but take few steps to protect our online banking. We even commit crimes without a second thought that we wouldn't dream of doing in person.
"The average man in the street wouldn't go into Sanity and steal a CD, but people go online and endlessly search free MP3s and pirate download the latest Game of Thrones season without any qualms.
The average man in the street wouldn't go into Sanity and steal a CD
People go onto Facebook, and they go onto Google who track all their personal identifying information and geo-locate themselves at the same time and apparently that's fine.
Look at the way we behave when we go to an ATM. You have a heightened sense of your surroundings, you stand up close, you cover your pin, you get the money and put it in your pocket and walk with purpose and you're a little more aware until you get home. But with internet banking people click on a link in an email to update their details.
This is the fundamental problem we have, people are not making this correlation between online and offline and don't have the same sensibility, the same technical understanding and lawful way they operate online as they do offline."
You've got mail
For the majority of the population the most obvious and most frequent encounter with the dark side of the web comes on an almost daily basis directly into our inboxes. From the classic Nigerian Prince offering unimaginably large amounts of free money, to impossible to miss investment opportunities, emails from our banks or PayPal, and even suspicious iTunes purchases and speeding fines, there is an almost never-ending list of emails to clear from your spam folder.
But do they actually work?
"They work like a treat! That's why we keep getting them, because they work so well."
While the total number of people in Australia who lose money to online scams will never be known, Australia's internet watchdog Scamwatch reported that a staggering $31m was reported lost in 2014. These numbers of course only include those who are willing to report, or even realise that they have been scammed.
The best ones that work I think are the ones that look simple and make you think
As scammers get more elaborate and technically savvy with their communications it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot fake emails from those from a legitimate service provider. While it is easy to know that your cousin hasn't in fact died suddenly in Africa, an unexpected online purchase email can raise an eyebrow or be a cause for concern.
"The best ones that work I think are the ones that look simple and make you think.
In my mind the two most successful ones are the ones with speeding fines, you think 'hmmmm I might have, I better click on it', and the iTunes one. When you get your iTunes receipt it's a really simple plain text with a plain background.
You should also never follow links in a suspicious email, if you want to double check log into your account through your browser instead of following email links."
The 'front page' test
With so many people online trying to steal your identity and your money what can you do to reduce your risk?
For Nigel there is one easy to apply test for all your browsing online, and it's a simple test that will ensure you avoid being caught up in a scam, or have your personal details easily available as seen in the recent Ashley Maddison scandal.
"A great test is the 'front page' test. If you went to a certain website would you want that on the front page of your local newspaper? If the answer is no then maybe you shouldn't be going there."
If you went to a certain website would you want that on the front page of your local newspaper?
Nigel also recommends ensuring that your computer is protected with an anti-virus, anti-phishing, anti-spam package, but with a caveat.
"You can't go around clicking phishing links and thinking that your software will totally protect you."
For those interested in learning more about security online The Centre for Internet Safety runs a Graduate Certificate in Cyber Law and Policy at the University of Canberra. An internationally leading qualification for lawyers, law enforcement officers, investigators, analysts and policy officers, the program is designed to give graduates skills enabling them to effectively identify and analyse global trends and issues in cyber law and policy.
Words by Daniel Murphy, main picture from 1980s CCAE computer studies