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| Mobile devices ... increasingly targeted by cyber criminals. Photo: Reuters |
Australia's top cyber cops are warning that social networking sites such as Facebook are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals as a way to steal internet users' money.
The growing commercialisation of social media through links to online trading such ''buy, swap and sell'' sites means cyber crooks now have a strong motivation to hack people's account details, police say.
In an interview with Fairfax Media, the Australian Federal Police's manager of cyber crime operations, Commander Glen McEwen and Melbourne team leader Federal Agent Scott Mellis outlined a range of new threats facing web users.
These included vicious ''form-grabbing malware'' that can steal large amounts of personal data, as well as complacency about the security of mobile devices, which most people do not protect with anti-virus software, even while using their phones to do banking.
The growing commercialisation of social media through links to online trading such ''buy, swap and sell'' sites means cyber crooks now have a strong motivation to hack people's account details, police say.
“[Smartphones] can be compromised as easily as your computer can be compromised.”
Scott Mellis, Federal Agent
These included vicious ''form-grabbing malware'' that can steal large amounts of personal data, as well as complacency about the security of mobile devices, which most people do not protect with anti-virus software, even while using their phones to do banking.
