 The first question I got was, I recently downloaded and installed the Web Protection Programme. I'm pleased with the way it protects my children from unwanted images, but is this program enough to protect our private information from hackers? And the simple answer to that is no. The reality is we've got to stop looking for a one-stop shop or a silver bullet or panacea, some technological device or piece of software that's going to provide all our protective needs. That doesn't exist. And it's not going to exist because our greatest vulnerability is our own behaviour and what we do online, how we interact with the Internet and the threats are so many and varied that there is no one-stop shop. So we've got to look at how we interact with the Internet, how we engage with it and what we do and how we do it. We've really got to take a good, hard, critical analysis of ourselves and what we do online. And so you've got to look at your own behaviours, the behaviours of your family, your systems, make sure that they are secure as they can be. Look, DSD's view, Department of Signals Directorate, is that if you're connected to the Internet, you're already compromised. And that's got to be our starting point. Okay, if we're going to be compromised, how do we minimise that risk? Because the Internet is vulnerable. That's just the nature of the beast and we need to accept that if you go on. And we know that there are people out there wanting to take advantage of our time on the Internet. And so we look at, okay, there's a vulnerability, so if it's not 100% safe, what do we have to do to make it safer? And so we look at the protection of our own systems, we look at how we behave online and we take the appropriate steps based on those issues as to how we can be more secure and safer when we engage on the Internet. The next question was, hello Detective Super, Super Nintendo joke, okay. I'm with Bigpond on a 100 gig plan. Is this a secure network? Are some networks more secure than others? What's the best way to tell? Look, Bigpond and most of the networks out there are secure. The great vulnerability is not the network, but as I said previously, it's your behaviour online and it's your own system. So you need to ensure that your system is updated regularly, it's a modern operating system, you're not using something like a Windows 2000 or 98 or that sort of thing. So you've got to make sure it's a system where your patches are updated and automatically upgraded every time you connect to the Internet and that they're available, that you have antivirus protection on your computer and you scan your system regularly. You've got to make sure that you manage your emails appropriately and that you don't download everything from everyone all in sundry that send material to you. So don't worry about the networks, consume yourself about the security of your own devices. Question, I've been getting emails from a person wanting to buy my car. They have been using multiple email addresses, but they send close to the same message each time. They want to pay over PayPal and have someone else pick up the car. Should I be concerned? Should I report this? The answer to that is yes, yes. You should be concerned. Our bottom dollar is you're dealing with fraudsters. The PayPal is a ruse. They will send you a fictitious PayPal email which purports to be from PayPal that says you've got this money held in trust or in a bank or in situ in your account which will be released upon delivery of the car. And guess what? They're going to buy accident to pay you too much or pay you for insurance or shipping costs and you'll have to send cash first overseas to the logistics manager or insurance provider. That's the scam and that's the fraud. Contact your provider where you advertised your car for sale and have them remove these people from the platform that's being used and they can block their IP address. Just be wary. They now have your email address. There's a good chance you'll be approached with frauds and scams in the future because they may see you, unfortunately this term to suckers list, they may see you as a future sucker or someone who'll respond to an approach in the future so be mindful of that. And please report to the ACCC scam watch website. Next question. I've worried about my credit card details whenever I shop online. How can I ensure myself that my details would be safe? One area to consider is actually having multiple credit cards and the advantage is that if you do go online and your card is compromised you will lose the ability to use that one card with a limited amount as opposed to your sole credit card with a much greater amount. So it's not going to interfere with your life so much. Also be mindful that if they do get hold of your credit card you probably should consider having your credit rating monitored by credit rating agency in the future because you're just standing in a good chance for identity takeover and abuse down the track. Never use your credit card online on computers that you're unfamiliar with. Never use them on an open network such as at an airport, at an internet cafe and don't use it through unencrypted wireless networks. Think about the security of the device you're using at the time you use your card. Next question. My email account was recently hacked. I've tried to change my password but it wouldn't let me so I had to reopen an older an email account. How do I get my email back? Look you need to contact your email provider and let them know what's occurred so they can have the account cancelled. Of concern is that you've got to look how is your account hacked. Was it hacked through a key logger on your system which means that your system is compromised and you need to have it cleansed or you've got a very poor, weak password. It's very important you use strong passwords that you change regularly. So you want a password that's ideally eight characters. Alpha numeric in length, not sequential numbers or letters. No true words. And throw in there a symbol such as an exclamation point, a hash. They reckon that an eight-digit or eight-character alpha numeric combination will take a supercomputer 20 years to crack. But if you throw in one symbol it will take a supercomputer 200 years to crack and change those passwords regularly. Next, how secure is internet shopping banking on phones and tablets especially when using free Wi-Fi? Free Wi-Fi, you've got to be careful. It's an open Wi-Fi network. It's not encrypted during that process of transportation of the data and you've got potentially real problems with it. So be very careful there. As for telephones and tablets, it's quite different. If you're talking about the iPhones and the iPads you're talking about a very closed market and the existence of malware is very much reduced as opposed to the Android system where it's very open. Lots of apps, lots of free stuff and that's where we see the majority of malicious code that's been written for those areas. So depending on what you've got, you've got to be very careful. Question, my parents access the internet, but they're in their 60s, do you have any specific advice or warnings for older people that it should pass on? Again, I come back to just understand what the internet is and the vulnerabilities and understand that your behaviour is one of your most vulnerable things. So strong passwords, change them regularly. Don't surrender too much personal information online. Manage your email accordingly. Do not open every email that you get. If you don't know who sent you the email, just delete it. If it seems too good to be true, there's a reason for that. It is, so don't be too excited by these remarkable offers that come your way that you think the email's addressed to you and that's what a lot of people make a mistake of, especially senior people new to the internet. They receive an email that is simply spam and there's been tens of thousands of these generated, but they think it's personally to them that the person who sent it knows them and that's a great vulnerability. And of course the other one is know what your children are doing online. The question, what is the best internet security to have? Look, I can't endorse a product, but you know what? Go online, there are plenty of review pages out there that'll go through a host of commercial products and they'll talk about their strengths and weaknesses. There are plenty of free products out there as well that are good. If you use Microsoft, Microsoft Security Essentials won't cost you a brass-rasu. The reviews come up well. I'm not saying endorse them by any means, but one of the things it'll do for you, if you go in there, it'll conduct a free scan of your computer and Microsoft have gone some way to actually working towards getting rid of and breaking down a lot of what we call botnets which are linked to compromised computers around the world. And there's every chance that someone you know or who you communicate with on a daily basis via the internet has a bot on their computer and it could affect you and make your computer part of that zombie system. So go into Microsoft and you've checked in Security Essentials. You can have a free scan on your computer which will cost you nothing and you may get rid of some malicious malware there. Question number of times. I had a little message pop up saying someone on your IP address is already logged on, is already using the service. What does that mean? Look, that could occur if you've got a home Wi-Fi network and you've got multiple devices logged on. So it's not necessarily malicious, but if you've got an open network, it may well indicate a problem. So there's no black and white answer on that one, but just be careful. Are there any good resources we can pass on to our parents and let our kids watch so they'll become totally familiar with dangers on the internet? Of course, we're the QPS, so proud of our Fiscal Affraud Fighting Ferret and the videos we've put online on YouTube, fundamental internet safety. I'd also recommended the Stay Smart Online website with the Department of Broadband Communication and Digital Economy. So if you visit www.staysmartonline.gov.au there's some great resources for the protection of yourself and your family. Another question, I love Facebook and emailing, but I've had my accounts hacked and dodgy emails sent to my friends. There must be something better than passwords to keep that info safe. Is there? Look, as I've said, you need to keep your system safe and I've explained why. It's very important that you maintain strong passwords and if it's happening more than once or twice, I suggest you've got a key logger in your system or you're using very poor security around your passwords. You can turn them up and change them regularly and that'll give you greater protection. Another question is, I'm completing my PhD in cybercrime at our university in Australia. What would be the best avenue to work for the police in some form of cybercrime squad? Look, the whole issue of addressing cybercrime is going to be a growing industry within Australia. Law enforcement are looking for getting the right people. We're a key to engage industry and experts to get ourselves in a better position to fight cybercrime. There'll be expert skills required in the area of research, digital evidence analytics, communication experts, and cyber criminology. I think we're going to see more into that field so there will be extensive avenues, I think, for people with the skills who want to apply it to protect communities and good on you. I hope that's enough of an assessment of your questions. I thank you for asking me those questions. And if I can be of any assistance in the future, please let me know. And I hope I've provided some insights on how you can protect yourself and your family down the track.