Media Release
22 August 2011
Parents who hand over control of the home computer to their children due to a lack of their own technical knowledge are putting their personal information and their good name at risk, a national credit rating repairer warns.
Director of MyCRA Credit Repairs, Graham Doessel says experience is showing us the ‘set and forget’ mentality of installing anti-virus software, and leaving the rest to our children is simply not effective in combating the current level of cyber-crime which is resulting in identity theft.
“Every day there’s more and more reported cases of online identity theft. Criminals can gain access to personal information in a host of ways, in order to commit identity fraud in the victim’s name. To expect our children to be able to effectively protect us and themselves against this crime is asking too much of them,” Mr Doessel says.
This comes as a recent Cyber-Survey commissioned by Telstra reveals more than one in three parents of children aged 10-17 admit their offspring’s tech skills exceed their own.
Darren Kane, Telstra’s Internet Trust and Safety Officer says Telstra’s inaugural Cyber-Safety Indicator shows more than 87 per cent of young people use the internet at least once a day, with almost half spending at least three hours a week on social networking sites.
“The research shows that a gap in technology skills is leading parents to believe that they are less capable of understanding how their kids might be exposing themselves to online risks such as cyber-bullying and identity theft,” Mr Kane says.
Mr Doessel says there is a real danger for children in downloading viruses, participating in scams, releasing credit card details and disclosing personal information and passwords to criminals. But he says this can all be minimised by parents taking an active role in their child’s internet use, and constantly updating their own cyber-awareness.
“Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in Australia and parents need a major update on their own knowledge of cyber-safety if they expect to be able to stay one step ahead of both their children and cyber-criminals,” he says.
The survey also showed mixed views on social networking: 36 per cent of parents trust their child’s use of social networking sites, while a quarter admit to worrying about them posting personal information online and 15 per cent worry about who their children talk to and what they talk about.
Mr Doessel says fraudsters are often extremely good at extracting personal information from people, and sites like Facebook are the perfect avenue for doing this.
“The amount of personal information that many young people have freely available for viewing on Facebook is frightening. We may say it is harmless, but what’s to say fraudsters can’t sit on that information and wait until their victims come of age to commit fraud in their name?”
“Fraudsters are also looking for credit card details, passwords and bank details to commit identity theft. The security of these details can all be compromised with the constant onslaught of viruses attacking the computers of most Australians these days,” he says.
Mr Doessel says a major downfall to being an identity theft victim is not only the initial loss of monies, but if the fraud sees accounts in the victim’s name going undetected and unpaid past 60 days, a person’s credit rating can be ruined for 5-7 years due to defaults.
“It need not be major fraud to be a massive blow to the identity theft victim. Unpaid accounts for as little as $100 can have the same negative impact on someone’s ability to obtain credit as a missed mortgage payment. So any misuse of someone’s credit file can be extremely significant,” he says.
For parents who want to educate themselves on cyber-crime, Mr Doessel recommends good places to start are the Government’s Stay Smart Online(www.staysmartonline.gov.au), and Cyber Smart websites (www.cybersmart.gov.au).
The Government recommends the close monitoring of all children’s internet use. Some of the other recommendations it makes include:
• Be aware of and involved in children’s internet use. Bookmark a list of ‘favourites’ for them. Encourage children to share new websites and explore together. Assist them whenever they need to disclose personal information.
• Talk to children about personal information and why it is special.
• Consider creating a family ‘fun’ email account separate from all other accounts for the child’s use. This way it can be deleted if misused.
• Consider using filters, labels and safe zones to manage children’s online access.
• Install and update anti-virus and other e-security software to restrict unauthorised access to data on the home computer and protect that data from corruption. Turn firewall on, set computer to automatic scan and update regularly.
If people suspect identity theft has affected their credit file, they can contact MyCRA Credit Repairs www.mycra.com.au.
/ENDS
Please contact:
Lisa Brewster – Media Relations Mob: 0450 554 007 media@mycra.com.au
Graham Doessel – Director 07 3124 7133
http://www.mycra.com.au MyCRA Credit Repairs is Australia’s leader in credit rating repairs. We permanently remove defaults from credit files.
Links:
http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/media-centre/announcements/parents-say-tech-skills-are-a-barrier-to-keeping-kids-cyber-safe.xml
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Parents/Cybersafety%20issues/Protecting%20personal%20information/Identity%20theft.aspx
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