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National Australia Bank (NAB) has stepped up its fight against cyber crime by joining forces with Macquarie University's cyber crime laboratory research experts.
Gary Blair, NAB General Manager Technology Risk and Security, said the cyber crime partnership was one of several measures the bank was investing in to shut down web-based scams before they went live.
"Fraud is a problem for the financial services industry, law enforcement and the public alike, with electronic gateways including the Internet providing opportunistic criminals more entry points than traditional shop fronts," he said.
"The research will enable NAB to better protect customers who are the innocent victims of cyber crime and related electronic enabled fraud.
"Customer awareness is growing with continued campaigns sponsored by the public and private sectors including www.staysmartonline.gov.au, www.protectfinancialid.org.au and www.scamwatch.gov.au
"But with criminals adapting their cyber crime techniques as consumers become more aware of scams, the university lab will be able to use the intelligence to outsmart criminals."
'Phishing' will be a key area under investigation. This involves fraudsters posing as legitimate companies to defraud money from consumers who unwittingly hand over account numbers and passwords. Other research will combat 'botnets' which are networks of compromised computers used by criminals to commit crimes.
The cyber crime laboratory will also develop an investigative methodology to identify trans-national organised cyber crime gangs. In addition, it will develop a body of research to tackle financially motivated attacks on financial institutions and identity theft and crimes that rely on computers and networks.
Research results will be published in academic journals and shared at security conferences.
Three NAB security specialists and 15 academics including four new funded PhD candidates will staff the cyber crime laboratory.
The academics are from the University's Division of Information Communication Sciences (www.ics.mq.edu.au) and the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (www.pict.mq.edu.au) reflecting the cross disciplinary nature of the Cyber crime problem.
NAB has recently secured additional Australian Research Council support to fund the initiative to 2010.
In addition to the university funding, NAB also has employees supporting the Australian High Tech Crime Centre (www.ahtcc.gov.au) including staff seconded to work directly with the centre.
Online banking key tips:
1. If your bank offers second factor authentication - use it. NAB customers can call 1300 651 656 to register for free SMS security.
2. Keep your operating system up to date and ensure automatic updates are switched on
3. Use updated security software including anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and firewall.
4. Always logon to Internet banking from a bank homepage by typing the URL into the address bar.
5. Pause and Think when receiving an email or viewing a website that looks suspicious. If the offer sounds too good to be true - it probably is.
For further information contact:
Kerrina Lawrence
NAB Media Manager
T: +61 3 8641 3409
M: +61 417 034 738
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