The frequency and type of scams targeting individuals and organisations have risen in the last 12 months and are likely to rise again this year.

Data breaches experienced last year by large Australian organisations exposed the personal details of millions of Australians, releasing identification details into the cyber-fraud community and allowing fraudsters to construct elaborate scams.

While University systems block a large number of scams, many are also delivered through phone calls, text messages and social media. Protect yourself and Macquarie from scams by remembering these steps:

1. Stop before responding to a request for information or an urgent alert.
2. Check the request is genuine through a trusted channel.
3. Report and block scams sent to you on social media. Forward email scams to spam@mq.edu.au.

A note for LastPass users

The recent LastPass data breach may allow attackers to obtain credentials if a LastPass account password can be guessed. While it is still unclear if the LastPass breach will lead to account compromise, as a precaution, it is recommended that LastPass users reset all passwords that are stored in LastPass, as well as their LastPass master password.

For more information about cyber security for Macquarie staff please contact cybersecurity@mq.edu.au.