Cybersafety Part 5: Don’t scratch the ‘ish’

An ‘ishing’ attack is not fun

Click on the link and you’re done

Beware of the phish, vish and the smish

And keep the criminals a-shun.

They say ‘knowledge is power’, and ‘ignorance is bliss’. But in the case of cyber safety, ignorance is ‘bl-ish’: it’s like crossing the road with your eyes closed!

There is no point wishing cybercrime would go away! Nefarious cyber actors wishing to steal your credit card or eBanking login details, or corrupt your hard drive with ransomware are employing an increasing range of methods, so broad in fact that these methods have attracted their own family of ‘ish’ sounding descriptors: phishing, vishing and smishing!

Click on the links above to find out what these words mean. Don’t worry, trust me, these links are safe! You can test the veracity of my claim by hovering over each link and checking where the link takes you: it should have a URL (ie web address) beginning with ‘https://en.wiktionary.org’.

Similarly, always check the URL of any link sent you via email or phone message. If the link looks like a bit ‘ishi’, don’t scratch it! Never give personal details over the phone, unless you are absolutely sure you know to whom you are talking.

 Report criminal communications to the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Report suspicious communications, particularly in relation to abuse, bullying and child safety to the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner.