The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is urging Australians to strengthen the proof of their identity protections to help stop cybercriminals gaining unauthorised access to online information and accounts.
Head of the ACSC, Abigail Bradshaw said the Centre published step-by-step guides to help people set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) on a range of social media, email and message applications and devices.
“Our easy-to-follow guides with screenshots are designed to help Australians protect themselves against cybercrime by setting up multi-factor authentication and making life much harder for the criminals,” Ms Bradshaw said.
“Online security starts with your own device and accounts,” she said.
Ms Bradshaw said people should use multi-factor authentication for their important accounts; replace passwords with passphrases; and use different passphrases for different accounts.
Assistant Minister for Defence, Andrew Hastie said cybercriminals were always looking for new ways to steal money and personal data.
“Where possible, we are encouraging people to use multi-factor authentication on your online programs and devices for greater protections against cybercrime and cybercriminals,” Mr Hastie said.
“Using multi-factor authentication makes it much harder for cybercriminals to gain access to your online data or personal information,” he said.
Mr Hastie said MFA was a small, straightforward, step that everyone could take and which would make a big difference to increasing Australia’s defences against cybercrime.
Further information on MFA, including tips on how to strengthen personal cyber defences, can be accessed on the ACSC’s website at this PS News link.
