Australian courier service CouriersPlease has revealed a cornerstone of its cyber safety strategy is focused on scanning the dark web for illegally obtained customer data.
The dark web refers to hidden sites on the internet that are only accessible through specialised web browsers. Encryption software allows users to maintain anonymity which has made it a centre for online illegal activity for anything from drugs to weapon sales.
2023 saw an unprecedented wave of data breaches in Australia, which have now seen the dark web become prime real estate for illegal data sales.
CouriersPlease CEO Richard Thames says his company is one of many that has increased its dark web monitoring over the past 12 months in order to protect customer data as efficiently as possible.
“Our customers’ data security is paramount, and part of our cyber strategy now involved ongoing monitoring of the dark web for any data breaches,” Thames says.
“We have an incident response that activates the moment a data breach is found by our team, and part of that response is to see if it’s a false positive or an urgent breach.
“From a security perspective, that count then undergoes an immediate reset that forces the customer to change their password. We alert the user and we’re typically able to close that circle within a couple of hours.”
Australia was revealed as one of the world’s ten most cybercrime targeted countries last year, with the ACCC reporting Australians lost over $3 billion to scammers between 2022 and 2023.
Text messages are the most reported contact method of scammers and resulted in the highest reported losses at $116 million.
CouriersPlease has released a list of simple methods Australians can use to reduce their chances of being hacked or scammed online.
- Don’t use the same password on your home and work devices. While strong passwords are frequently touted as a top cyber safety tactic, CouriersPlease Infrastructure and Security Manager Sajit Sam says an overwhelming number of the public still use the same passwords across all their devices – including their work and home computers. “This makes it far easier for threat actors to access all of your data and your company’s data.” In addition, he recommends using ‘passphrases’ instead of passwords.
- Change your password frequently and make it a strong one. Sam advises a minimum of 10-plus characters, capitals and characters and he suggests using a password manager application to keep track of them.
- Secure your accounts with multi-factor authentication. This means using two or more different types of action to verify your identity. The Australian Government’s Cyber Security Centre states this is the best way to add extra layers of protection against cybercriminals.
- Click on any links with care and caution. Always apply caution when opening any emails and SMS, says Sam. “The minute you download an attachment or click on an SMS link that belongs to a cybercriminal, you’re opening the door to phishers and scammers,” he warns. The Australian Cyber Security Centre put self-reported losses for business email compromise at around $81.45 million annually.
- Be on the lookout for scams and use the Government’s ‘have you been hacked tool’. Sam says familiarising yourself with common scams targeting Australians right now (such as phishing emails and texts, remote-access scams and identity theft) is an effective way to stay vigilant. Remember scammers create a sense of urgency, so if you’re being forced to act fast on a text or email, treat it with extreme caution.
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