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    in Information Technology

    Investor group acquires McAfee for more than $14 billion

    Black Friday Deals

    An investor group has acquired cybersecurity giant McAfee Corporation for more than $14 billion.Led by Advent International Corporation, Permira Advisers, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC Private, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the investment group bought all outstanding shares of McAfee common stock for $26 per share in an all-cash transaction. The price was based on McAfee’s closing share price of $21.21 on November 4. McAfee shareholders will receive $26 in cash for each share of common stock they own, and the deal will close at some point in the first half of 2022. Once the deal is completed, McAfee common stock will no longer be listed on any public securities exchange.McAfee sold its enterprise security business to a consortium led by Symphony Technology Group in a deal worth $4 billion in March. Since its split from Intel in early 2017, McAfee has pivoted to cloud services and worked to build out its platform with a focus on its enterprise product portfolio. However, the company is now narrowing its focus and directing its resources to the consumer side of the business in a bid for long-term growth.McAfee CEO Peter Leav said at the time that the transaction would allow McAfee to singularly focus on their consumer business and accelerate their strategy to be a leader in personal security for consumers. The enterprise security business was merged with FireEye in a $1.2 billion all-cash transaction that closed in October.

    Leav said the deal on Monday was a “testament to McAfee’s market-leading online protection solutions, our talented employees, and outstanding customers and partners.””We want to thank our employees for their continued hard work and commitment to McAfee. We are thrilled to be partnering with premier firms who truly understand the cybersecurity landscape and have a proven track record of success,” Leav said.McAfee completed its initial public offering last year. TPG and Intel are still shareholders in the company. The investor group said in a statement that it would provide McAfee with financial support as well as operational resources to help the company meet rising demand for cybersecurity services. The company added that McAfee’s Board and advisors now have a 45-day shopping period where they can look for better acquisition proposals. Jon Winkelried, CEO of TPG and chair of the McAfee Board, said the deal signals continued growth and opportunity for McAfee, noting that over the last four years, the company has expanded its product portfolio, enhanced its go-to-market strategy, and pursued strategic M&A efforts. “The risks that consumers face from all aspects of their digital lives is immense, and these risks are unprecedented and rapidly increasing,” said Greg Clark, managing partner at Crosspoint Capital and former CEO of Symantec  “Consumers buy from brands they trust, and with the globally recognized brand of McAfee, we see the long term opportunity to deliver products and services to address these risks in all aspects of their digital presence.”

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    in Information Technology

    Ransomware: Suspected REvil ransomware affiliates arrested

    Romanian authorities have arrested two individuals suspected of cyber-attacks using the Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware. They are allegedly responsible for 5,000 infections, accounting for €500,000 in ransom payments, according to European law enforcement agency Europol.REvil has been one of the most notorious ransomware groups of 2021, responsible for hundreds of high-profile attacks around the world.A further suspected GandGrab affiliate was arrested by Kuwaiti authorities on the same day.In addition to these arrests, GoldDust, which is a 17-nation law enforcement operation, saw three additional arrests in February and April by authorities in South Korea against affiliates involved with REvil ransomware. Another affiliate, a Ukrainian national, was arrested at the Polish border in October following an international arrest warrant from the US. The Ukrainian suspect was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Kaseya ransomware attack, which affected around 1,500 companies across the world. In total, the operation has resulted in seven arrests, and it’s the first time they’ve been disclosed publicly by law enforcement.SEE: A winning strategy for cybersecurity (ZDNet special report)    The operation involved police from countries around the world and international law enforcement agencies Europol, Eurojust, and Interpol. The arrests follow a joint operation which was able to intercept communications and seize infrastructure used during campaigns.

    Operation GoldDust also received support from the cybersecurity industry from companies including Bitdefender, KPN, and McAfee. Researchers at Bitdefender provided technical insights throughout the investigation, along with decryption tools to help victims of ransomware attacks recover their files without having to pay the ransom.Decryption tools for several versions of GandCrab and REvil ransomware are available for free via the No More Ransom project. According to Europol, the REvil decryption tools have helped more than 1,400 companies decrypt their networks following ransomware attacks, saving over €475 million ($550 million) from being paid to cyber criminals.Europol supported the operation by providing analytical support, as well analysis into malware and cryptocurrency. The 17 countries participating in Operation GoldDust are Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Kuwait, the United Kingdom, and the United States.”These arrests illustrate what can be achieved when the public and private sectors pool their resources to fight cybercrime. This operation was an around-the-clock global effort to hunt down those responsible for the most devastating ransomware attacks in recent history leaving no stone unturned,” Alexandru Catalin Cosoi, senior director of the investigation and forensics unit at Bitdefender which aided investigations, told ZDNet.”The success of this operation is a wake-up call for cybercriminals. They should understand if they are caught in the crosshairs of an international effort to find them, they can’t hide,” he added.The arrests are the latest in a string of operations by law enforcement targeting ransomware operations. Last month saw a Europol-led operation target 12 suspects in Ukraine and Switzerland believed to be behind LockerGoga, MegaCortex, Dharma, and other ransomware attacks. It was also recently reported that law enforcement from multiple countries helped take down key elements of REvil.MORE ON CYBERSECURITY More

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    in Robotics

    How to 3D print a child's arm

    Unlimited Tomorrow

    Innovation

    Here’s the problem: Advanced prosthetics can improve the quality of life for amputees, but the devices are incredibly expensive. A company called Unlimited Tomorrow has created a process to solve for this, and in so doing, it’s become an important test case for technology-driven manufacturing.The problem isn’t insignificant. Nearly 2,000,000 people live with limb loss in the United States, which records approximately 185,000 amputations each year, alone, per the Amputee Coalition.Historically, amputees have been hard-pressed to find lightweight and comfortable prosthetics, intuitive and reliable, and, perhaps most importantly, affordable. These challenges are compounded for children with limb loss, as they’re required to purchase multiple prosthetics as they grow. It costs an average of $80,000 per limb to keep a child outfitted with an appropriate prosthetic.To make prosthetics that are tailored to individual amputees’ needs, and particularly children, at a fraction of the cost, Unlimited Tomorrow Founder Easton LaChapelle has turned to emerging technologies, such as Siemens’ 3D printing software. It’s a game-changer.

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    “Until recently, all bionic prosthetic devices were produced using expensive tooling, molds, and materials,” LaChapelle tells me. “This type of production limits the sizes and form factors that can be offered and adds cost. By nature, a prosthesis must be durable and robust because it is used daily. This has made it difficult to develop alternatives until 3D printing became an option. Other technological barriers include batteries and sensors used to control the prosthesis.”Interestingly, the story of how bionic devices are typically made is a story of the inefficiencies of manufacturing segmentation.”We have found that a lot of the costs come from segmented manufacturers that all create different components that go into a device,” explains LaChapelle. “Each of these manufacturers needs to make a margin, and overall, this increases the costs to the clinicians. Clinicians are critical to creating a sound prosthetic device. They work directly with the patients, create the socket (the most critical part of the device), and fabricate and assemble the final unit. These clinicians then need to bill the insurance companies to make their margin. When you add all of this together, you get expensive prosthetic devices.”

    Therefore technological improvements will help reduce these costs, but technology alone won’t solve all the issues, a point that’s often left out of glowing predictions of technology-driven manufacturing efficiencies. Unlimited Tomorrow identified cost structure as an issue early on and solved these challenges by developing its technology and manufacturing from the ground up. This allows the company to control costs very accurately. Unlimited Tomorrow has an in-house clinical team, as well as production and manufacturing teams. Having everything under a single roof allows the company to be very efficient, control quality across the board, and reduce costs tremendously compared to other companies and services. By solving for segmentation and wholly owning its manufacturing, Unlimited Tomorrow is solving for the segmentation-induced costs. And of course, the very idea of a small enterprise owning its own manufacturing is a product of technology, part of the virtuous circle of technology enabling processes that drive new utilizations of technology.Says LaChapelle, “3D printing, 3D scanning, and software have enabled us to produce prosthetic devices that are unique to each person (in terms of shape, size, and skin tone), extremely durable, lightweight, and affordable. The devices we make have comparable functionality to the most advanced devices on the market. Through a convergence of these technologies, we can offer them at the lowest cost within the bionic category.”Technology has also contributed to astounding customization. For example, unlimited Tomorrow offers 144 skin tones, and the devices are custom-made in a mirror image of the end user’s opposing limb. 3D scanning is used to capture the user’s residual limb geometry, and new software and algorithms allow the company to create sockets instead of much costlier hand fabrication digitally.Siemens, which put Unlimited Tomorrow on my radar, is playing a role in this manufacturing success story. “Siemens’ software is critical in our process. Their software takes in the raw 3D scan from our users and allows our clinical team and socket generation team to digitally fabricate and fine-tune sockets for a wide range of users. No two residual limbs are ever the same, and to have software that can account for that, while also making it easy enough for our team to produce sockets, is incredible.”Unlimited Tomorrow has created an upgrade program for children whose devices will become obsolete as they grow. “We upcycle the quality and expensive components and create a new device for them at half the cost.”It’s another example of the flexibility that an integrated manufacturing process brings, and it’s a good illustration of how one company is able to serve such a variety of customers. “Our youngest user is seven years old — our oldest is 86 years old!” exclaims LaChapelle enthusiastically. More

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    in Networking

    It was time to get serious about running my home office network. Here's what I did

    Over the last couple of months, I’ve been spending some time using Netgear’s Insight network management platform along with some Wi-Fi 6 hardware. It’s been interesting moving from an unmanaged (but still quite complex) network to one that gives me the tooling necessary to apply significantly more discipline. 

    Insight is perhaps best thought of as Netgear’s competitor to the popular Ubiquiti platform, providing tools for web- and app-based management of Insight-ready hardware. Like Ubiquiti it means investing in an ecosystem, as you’ll need the right mix of switches and wireless access points to make the most of the platform. You’ll need to pay an annual subscription fee per device, with most Insight-ready hardware coming with a free year of access to the service.SEE: The IoT is getting a lot bigger, but security is still getting left behindThe Insight platform gives you a lot of information about your network in one place. You can see what’s connected to an access point, with graphs showing changes over time, as well as watching overall network health. Network topology tools show what devices are connected to which switch or access point, giving you a quick overview of the complexity of your network. Support for a SSID filter view makes it easy to segregate wired from wireless devices, helping determine what’s connected to what and where. Other tools show detailed information about wired and wireless devices in your network, showing device diagnostics as well as network traffic graphs. Wired devices can be checked for PoE usage. While I’m only using Insight to manage network devices, there’s also support for Netgear’s storage hardware, with tools to manage NAS.Using Insight to monitor the devices connected to Wi-Fi SSIDs.
    Image: Simon Bisson
    Other tools in the Insight platform support remote device management for network hardware. You can trigger firmware updates from your browser. As well as manual updates, you can define an update window outside of normal working hours. This allows the platform to automatically update devices, starting at the edge with access points, then moving into switches and routers. This keeps the risk of downtime to a minimum, ensuring that devices have access to the firmware updates they need. Having a single pane of glass for management makes a lot of sense, for a SOHO set up like mine all the way up to a medium-sized enterprise with multiple switches and hundreds of wireless access points. There’s a lot to like about Insight as a platform, but it’s at its best when taking the load out of the hands of over-worked (and often multi-tasked) IT teams. Small businesses often only have one admin (or even fewer, if IT tasks have been passed out to other staff members).

    Tools like Insight are going to become more important the more we work from home. The devices we use for remote work should be kept separate from our personal devices and our growing armada of IoT devices. We need to be able to isolate hardware in trusted and untrusted networks, to keep IoT devices segregated on 2.4GHz wireless, and to monitor that everything is doing what we need.That is going to require the right hardware. My existing Orbi mesh network wasn’t suitable for this new world, offering a basic access point option or a wireless router. I’d opted to use it as a pair of access points, as my routing needs were handled by the house’s broadband connections. Switching on additional W-iFi 6 hardware wasn’t a problem, and the Netgear WAX610 access points worked well alongside the older hardware.As the WAX610 was part of an Insight-managed network, I had a lot more control over it, and could add segmented wireless VLANs. I kept one segment on both 2.4 and 5GHZ bands for general use, with a second limited to 2.4GHz purely for IoT hardware. There was no point keeping lightbulbs, plugs, and thermostats on the same network as the rest of the house. Limiting the IoT VLAN to 2.4GHz also meant it was easier to configure hardware built around lower cost wireless chipsets.SEE: Gartner releases its 2021 emerging tech hype cycle: Here’s what’s in and headed outTwo devices, one in the front of the house and one at the back, provided full coverage for a three-floor Victorian brick terrace in a London suburb and were able to cope well with a crowded spectrum in a high-density population area. The WAX610 and the outdoor-rated WAX610Y were on the same SSIDs, which did make handover a little tricky on some devices where AP affinity was higher than on others. However, manually turning on and off Wi-Fi quickly associated devices with the nearest AP.Both were Power over Ethernet (PoE) hardware. I’d not used PoE in my network before, but luckily I’d used CAT5e and CAT6 cabling which meant I could use a pair of PoE switches to drive the APs. Swapping out an ageing D-Link switch for a gigabit Netgear GS110TUP added PoE support at the heart of my network, using the Insight cloud portal to manage the various ports. With nine available ports, I did have to spend some time consolidating my network cabling, dropping in a secondary switch under my desk to handle local hardware.Configuring POE ports on a managed GS110TUP switch.
    Image: Simon Bisson
    The GS110TUP is a good, high-performing device. It works well with a heterogenous mix of Windows, macOS, and Linux hardware, as well as providing a hub for the house’s wireless network. Perhaps the biggest change in jumping more than a decade’s worth of networking hardware was how much quieter it was than the retired switch, opting for a fanless design while still supporting PoE delivery across a significant length of ethernet.As part of the network upgrade, I have swapped out first-generation Orbi mesh wireless hardware for the latest Orbi Pro 6 Mini hardware. The new SXR30 devices are a lot smaller than the original routers but work exactly the same way as the familiar consumer hardware. Support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard helps them offer better bandwidth for devices in a crowded wireless environment, something that’s very useful in London’s high-density inner suburbs.The unobtrusive Orbi Pro 6 Mini access points.
    Image: Simon Bisson
    If you’ve used Orbi in the past, then you know what you’re getting. There’s little difference between the Pro experience and the consumer devices. Initial set up is through the web. I then chose to connect to Insight, allowing the Insight service to back up and store configurations, as well as managing the device updates.Managing an Orbi wireless mesh from Insight.
    Image: Simon Bisson
    There are some differences between the Orbi Pro and other Insight APs I’ve tested. Where you still can set up and configure separate VLANs for different operations, you can’t lock them down to specific frequency bands. Despite that, the ability to set up, manage and run different wireless VLANs in a mesh is very useful, allowing you to improve the security of your network, for example isolating VLANs from each other and even isolating client devices from each other. That last option is especially useful if you’re using Insight and Orbi to run a guest network.Insight is a plug-and-play network management environment. You can add new client licenses and then search for devices on your network, quickly bringing them into a single plane-of-glass management environment. You don’t need to use the web tooling, either, as there are mobile apps that allow you to work with your network anywhere at any time.Having everything in one place makes it easy to check what’s happening and to see what needs to be fixed when. With Insight, a quick tune-up no longer means switching from device UI to device UI. Instead, everything you want is in one browser view, and only a couple of clicks away. Insight, and Insight-aware hardware, is definitely one of those tools that takes away the mundane, giving you time to get on with the work that really matters. 

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    in Information Technology

    Cybersecurity firms provide threat intel for Clop ransomware group arrests

    [embedded content]

    Further details have been revealed concerning a 30-month investigation designed to disrupt the operations of the Clop ransomware group. 

    In June, Ukrainian police arrested six suspects in 20 raids across Kyiv and other towns, seizing computers, technology, cars, and roughly $185,000. The Ukrainian National Police worked with law enforcement in South Korea on the raid, now known as Operation Cyclone.  Interpol, an inter-governmental organization focused on facilitating coordinated activities between police agencies worldwide, said last week that the operation was managed by Interpol’s Cyber Fusion Centre in Singapore. Trend Micro, CDI, Kaspersky Lab, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Group-IB contributed threat intelligence through the Interpol Gateway project, together with police from Ukraine, South Korea, and the United States.  South Korean firms S2W LAB and KFSI also contributed Dark Web activity analysis.  South Korea was particularly interested in the arrests due to Clop’s reported involvement in a ransomware attack against E-Land. The ransomware’s operators told Bleeping Computer that point-of-sale (PoS) malware was implanted on the Korean retail giant’s systems for roughly a year, leading to the theft of millions of credit cards. 

    Clop is one of many ransomware gangs that operate leak sites on the Dark Web. The groups will claim responsibility for a ransomware attack and will use these platforms for dual purposes: to facilitate communication with a victim to negotiate a blackmail payment in return for a decryption key — as well as to conduct further extortion by threatening to leak stolen, sensitive data on the portal if they do not pay up.  Clop has previously exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in the Accellion File Transfer Appliance (FTA) software, alongside other attack vectors, to claim high-profile victims including The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Washington State Auditor, Qualys, and Stanford Medical School.  The six suspects are also accused of money laundering, as Clop overall is believed to have laundered at least $500 million obtained from ransomware activities. If convicted as part of the notorious group, the defendants face up to eight years behind bars.  “Despite spiraling global ransomware attacks, this police-private sector coalition saw one of global law enforcement’s first online criminal gang arrests, which sends a powerful message to ransomware criminals, that no matter where they hide in cyberspace, we will pursue them relentlessly,” commented Craig Jones, Interpol’s Director of Cybercrime. However, it should be noted that the six arrests in Ukraine have not stopped the Clop ransomware group’s activities or disrupted its leak site. It is believed the main operators of the ransomware are based in Russia.  Interpol added that Operation Cyclone “continues to supply evidence that is feeding into further cybercrime investigations and enabling the international police community to disrupt numerous channels used by cybercriminals to launder cryptocurrency.” In recent ransomware news, the US State Department has offered a bounty worth $10 million for information “leading to the identification or location of any individuals holding key leadership positions” in the DarkSide ransomware group.  Previous and related coverage Have a tip? Get in touch securely via WhatsApp | Signal at +447713 025 499, or over at Keybase: charlie0 More

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    in Networking

    Telstra wants transparency reports to be mandatory for telcos in regional Australia

    Image: Getty Images
    The Australian government is currently in the midst of reviewing telecommunications issues experienced by people based in regional, rural, and remote areas across the country. The review, which occurs every three years, has received submissions from Australia’s major telcos about the issues it should look into. Of particular note is Telstra’s submission, which has asked for government to consider making it mandatory for fixed network operators in regional Australia to provide transparent reporting on fault identification and rectification. “Greater transparency of the capabilities and performance of fixed network services would benefit customers as they make choices about the best mix of services and service providers to suit their needs,” Telstra wrote in its submission [PDF]. It also recommended that funds be directly allocated to local governments to assist in raising understanding of connectivity solutions and technologies that are most appropriate, while asking for the federal government to consider a scenario where passive infrastructure sharing between telcos become a thing despite opposing mandated roaming. Another recommendation made by Australia’s incumbent telco was for reforms to be made to the country’s universal service obligation (USO). The USO is a consumer protection aimed at ensuring everyone has access to landline telephones and payphones. Telstra is currently the only provider of USO. It said the focus behind the USO should be on the outcomes delivered to customers rather than the technology used to deliver those outcomes. “The USO could be reformed to ensure that the entity responsible for the USO be required to provide at least the same level of coverage, resilience and quality using technology that best delivers and enhances these outcomes over time,” Telstra said.

    Like Telstra, Optus [PDF] and TPG Telecom [PDF] have also asked for government to consider reforms regarding the USO in their respective submissions. “The universal service arrangements are a mess of outdated, poorly managed, and costly arrangements that do not meet value for money principles and do not ensure delivery of the services needed in regional areas,” Optus wrote in its submission. Optus said that current USO rules have caused it to pay AU$1.2 billion to Telstra since 1992, with the Singapore-owned telco saying that money could have been used to expand its own coverage in regional areas instead. TPG Telecom, meanwhile, has called for the USO to be replaced altogether. The remaining recommendations from all three major telco companies were for there to be better coordination between government and industry, as well as calls for more work on regional connectivity and education programs.  The committee tasked with conducting the review will deliver its findings to the federal government before the end of the year.  Related Coverage More

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    in Networking

    NBN looking to open FttN upgrade orders in March 2022

    An NBN FttN node getting a Nokia line card installed
    Image: Corinne Reichert/ZDNet
    The company responsible for the National Broadband Network has said it is expecting users to be able to place orders with retailers in March 2022. Until then, NBN is asking people to register their interest.At the same time, NBN announced the next 200,000 that will be able to upgrade from fibre to the node (FttN) to fibre to the premises (FttP). This latest announcement now leaves only 400,000 premises remaining to be announced to complete the company’s two million premises able to upgrade target. NBN added it was also expecting the first invitations for customers to upgrade fibre to the curb (FttC) connections to be sent in 2022. In May, the company revealed it had replaced approximately 47,700 NBN Co Connection Devices used on FttC connections. Earlier in March, the company said it was looking for a long-term solution to lightning frying FttC equipment, which was highlighted in the Blue Mountains area of NSW. While FttN users need to order a plan faster than 100Mbps to receive an upgrade, FttC users need to place an order for a plan over 250Mbps to get a full fibre connection. “We are on track to achieve our goal of enabling around 8 million premises or up to 75 per cent of homes and businesses on the fixed line network to access NBN’s highest wholesale speed tiers, on demand, by the end of 2023,” NBN COO Kathrine Dyer said. Further, the company reported its first-quarter results on Monday, with revenue up 17% to AU$1.25 billion, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumping from AU$102 million last year to AU$714 million. Payments to Telstra and Optus fell from AU$469 million in the first quarter last year to AU$86 million.

    At the end of last week, TPG Telecom announced it had extended its fibre network in regional areas and was able to offer businesses connectivity at speeds greater than 250Mbps. Beginning at AU$384 a month including GST for the 250Mbps plan, the telco is also offering 400Mbps for AU$440 a month, and 1Gbps for AU$880 a month. The regional towns, as labelled by TPG, are: Dubbo, Maitland, Bathurst, Nowra, Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Griffith, Goulburn, Port Macquarie, Bendigo, Ballarat, Morwell, Shepparton, Horsham, Maroochydore, Cairns, Toowoomba, Mackay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Townsville, Hobart, Launceston, Bunbury, Rockingham, Darwin. The towns placed on NBN upgrade map are listed below, broken down by state. An asterisk means NBN is further extending upgrade coverage in that locality. New South Wales Anna Bay, Bonnells Bay, Buff Point, Caves Beach, Dubbo*, Forresters Beach, Inverell, Merewether, Mudgee, Muswellbrook, Narromine, Orange*, Parkes, Port Macquarie, San Remo, Thurgoona, Wamberal, Wellington, Windradyne, Wyoming, Wyong. Victoria Bell Park, Cape Paterson, Diamond Creek, Doreen, Drysdale, Echuca*, Greenvale, Hamlyn Heights, Jan Juc, Lara, McCrae, Mildura, Norlane, Rosebud, Sale, Taylors Lakes, Torquay, Whittlesea, Wonthaggi, Yarra Glen. Queensland Avoca, Biloela, Caboolture*, Coolum Beach*, Deception Bay, Frenchville, Goondiwindi, Lammermoor, Mango Hill, Narangba, Taranganba. South Australia Davoren Park, Greenwith, Smithfield. Western Australia Dianella, Edgewater, Ferndale, Gosnells, Hamilton Hill, High Wycombe, Hillarys, Lynwood, Morley*, Noranda, Padbury, Port Kennedy*, Spearwood, Stratton, Swan View, Wanneroo, Willetton. Related Coverage More

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    in Information Technology

    Labor wants new anti-scam centre and code of practice for fighting against scams

    The Labor Party has vowed to set up a hub for monitoring and preventing scams if it is voted into Parliament at the next election to address the rising number of scams in Australia.The hub, labelled as an anti-scam centre, would look to make existing regulators, law enforcement officers, banks, telcos, and social media platforms all work together under the same umbrella to address scams. “AU$33 billion a year is being lost to criminals … We’ve got to do more. We’ve got to crack down on the illegal activity and we’ve got to do what we can to get the vectors of illegal activity, ensuring that they’re doing their bit as well,” Shadow Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said. In a scam report published by Microsoft in July, the company said 68% of Australians encountered some form of tech support scam, which was nine percentage points higher than the global average. In another scam report, Australia and New Zealand Group said it has seen a 73% increase in scams being detected or reported by customers, compared to the same time last year.  The Labor party also wants to create a new code of practice for fighting against scams and allocate AU$3 million over three years to community organisations that support those who have experienced ID theft, Jones said. In proposing this plan, Jones said Australia has been slow to address scams, pointing to how similar hubs have been established in Canada and the UK. “We should be treating [scams] like any other criminal activity. But we’re not, because Scott Morrison is asleep on the job. Of course, we want to stop this, but we know that some of it will get through. So we’ve got to do our bit to ensure that we are supporting the victims of illegal scamming,” he said.

    The federal government has so far focused primarily on addressing scams through working with the telco sector. Last month, the government launched a new initiative with telcos to block scam text messages posing as legitimate government sender IDs, such as Centrelink, myGov, and the Australian Taxation Office. Prior to that initiative, the federal government rolled out a Reducing Scam Calls Code, which is a telco sector-specific code for blocking spam. Since it was adopted in December, telcos have blocked over 214 million scam calls. By comparison, telcos had blocked 30 million scam calls in the year prior to the code’s rollout.   During Senate Estimates, Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo also said his department was looking to provide telcos more powers to block spam and malicious content under the Telecommunications Act. Related Coverage More