In Australia, an identity crime occurs every 2 minutes, impacting individuals with an average cost of over $18,000 (based on over 41,000 identity crimes reviewed). This occurs every minute, every hour, and every day of every month. In reality nothing is structured to stop this from occurring. When Security in Depth reviewed the last 12 months of Identity crime figures across Australia - it was estimated, by the Australian Institute of Criminology that over 2 million individuals had been attacked, with only 3.9% of Identity crimes actually prosecuted.
GuardMyID has been designed by our team - Australia's leading cyber industry experts to be able
to assist in two specific areas:
1. Help you prepare and have your identity more secure before a potential attack - with the focus
on pre-emptive action.
2. Providing world class support for you if you experienced an identity crime - because we know,
from experience, that having to manage all the requirements of an identity crime is almost
impossible - and with only 3.9% of crimes prosecuted in Australia - you need all the support
available.
This is why we created GuardMyID - to help prevent an incident and if something happens,
to advocate for you and support you through the process.
So let's talk about GuardMyID and what you can expect.
1. Use a Password Manager
Passwords are clearly a huge problem. Michael Connory, CEO of Security in Depth was categorical when he said, “Passwords are the cockroaches of our industry.” They give a false sense of security. Your primary email is the gateway to all of your services. If an attacker accesses your inbox, they have the power to impersonate you or reset passwords on other websites, on which they can steal money or cause other serious harm. Even if you are using password managers today, it is likely that you have re-used passwords throughout the years and across several websites.
2. Enable two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication means that in order to either log in or confirm a transaction, you will need to use two factors to authenticate yourself, preferably a combination of: something you know (a password, PIN code or passphrase); something you have (a physical token, USB key, your mobile device); or something you are (fingerprint, face recognition, hand gesture).
Two-factor authentication varies across services and countries but the good thing is that today they are widely available: SMS one-time passwords, email one-time passwords, printed one-time passwords, national ID cards, mobile authenticator apps, disconnected tokens, USB stick tokens, etc. GuardMyID will enable you to set 2FA successfully - everywhere.
3. Take an extra second before you click, or before you post
Let’s say it’s the time of the day when you check social media. Someone you follow has shared a flashy poll “Are remote workers more productive?” and it sound very interesting. Wait. Take an extra second before you click. Take an extra second to think: is it worth to participate in that game? Will this leak personal data about me or my company?
4. Never believe someone calling you is who they say they are
In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for a bank to call you by phone to verify some personal information, even to confirm a transaction, so some people built the belief that talking by phone with the bank was a necessary and safe practice. And they were right.
Our CEO, Michael Connory, explores what happens when he receives an unsolicited text and clicks on the link.
GuardMyID is Australia's premier identity management solution - understand why you should protect your digital identity.
It is a horrible statistic, but important to understand. In many instances, once your tax file number or your drivers licence has been compromised, there is no simple and easy way to fix. These identity numbers, provided by either the Federal Government or State Government are with you for life - you can't simply change them because of a crime. It means that criminals can utilise these for the rest of your life, impacting your ability to work with the ATO, you ability to obtain finance, your ability to lead a normal life.
There is no easy way to say this - Identity crime will cause significant hurt. These statistics show that everything from your credit rating and your ability to obtain credit, to being innocent and accused of crimes due to your identity being used, to mental health issues. The impact of a identity crime is always significant - and we haven't discussed the financial costs.
The impact of identity theft is enormous. Per person, on average, the financial impact is $18,000. And its impact overall equates to more than $3.1 billion per annum. What is concerning is the numbers are growing year on year. We haven’t had a chance to review the 2020 numbers yet due to COVID-19, but we have seen other cyber crime statistics sour by over 60% in the last 12 months.
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