It is each internet user's responsibility to ensure that their personal information is secure. Understanding online security and following a few simple guidelines can help safeguard not only your sensitive information, but that of friends, family and colleagues.
It is each internet user's responsibility to ensure that their personal information is secure. Understanding online security and following a few simple guidelines can help safeguard not only your sensitive information, but that of friends, family and colleagues.
Selecting a strong password is often the first step towards protecting yourself online. By following a few of the simple guidelines listed below, you can significantly improve the strength of your password.
One of the most common ways that scammers can gain access to your personal information is through phishing emails.
Phishing is a term used to describe the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from legitimate companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details via the internet.
Example of a Phishing Attempt: A fraudulent email claiming to be sent from SpinTel encourages you to reply with your personal account information including your username, password and date of birth. This email also threatens to close your SpinTel webmail account unless this information is supplied within 48 hours.
As part of our ongoing objective to ensure your online safety, we are making every effort to identify, report and block the source of these phishing emails. This page also includes regular examples of the latest phishing email alerts which target SpinTel. We are confident that by keeping you fully informed of these types of activities and through regular communication with our customers, we will minimise any inconvenience they may cause.
Look out for these common signs that an email may be a phishing attempt:
Phishing emails may contain a fake email address in the 'From' sender line. If you have not seen this email address from SpinTel before, the 'reply to' address is not a standard spintel.net.au address, or the email address has been slightly altered (e.g. spintell.com), then the email could be fraudulent.
The distributors of phishing emails will generally not have access to your name, therefore many of these emails will contain greetings such as 'Dear Account User' or 'Dear SpinTel email User'.
Many phishing emails will set a deadline for the update of your personal account information, claiming that your SpinTel account will be closed unless information is updated before a specified deadline.
Phishing emails generally contain a link which will redirect you to a false website, or a space in the email to enter your personal information. These external links can be faked - when in doubt, always type www.spintel.net.au directly into your browser.
Phishing emails will generally be signed off with a generic sign-off such as 'SpinTel Support Team' or 'SpinTel.net.au Team'.
SpinTel will never request that you disclose your personal details via email. Any email requesting your SpinTel username, password, date of birth, state or credit card information is clearly a phishing email and should be treated with extreme caution.
Delete any emails you suspect are Spam.
If you receive an email you suspect is Spam, we recommend that you delete it immediately. Please do not reply to these emails or click on any links they may contain, as this will confirm to the Spammer that your email address is active and may result in receiving more Spam.
Download and install regular updates and patches for your operating system.
Check Windows Update regularly and follow the directions to install the latest security patches and critical updates onto your system. You will find the 'Windows Update' option in Control Panel.
Install and update third-party Anti-Virus protection.
A computer virus is a program which can infect a computer and copy itself to spread among other connected computers. Once infected, your computer could be used for fraudulent activities including online identity theft, stealing personal information, distributing Spam, or spreading the virus further. Anti-Virus software identifies, quarantines and removes viruses present on your computer.
Free Anti-Virus programs:
Recommended subscription software:
Please note that SpinTel does not provide support for these third-party software applications.
Install and update Adware and Spyware removal tools.
'Malware' is a collective term given to Spyware and Adware - potentially harmful software designed to infiltrate and/or damage a computer system without the informed consent of the end user. Any personal information intercepted via spyware may be used by an unauthorised third party to commit fraudulent activities.
To safeguard yourself against Malware, consider installing and regularly running the following applications:
For more information on how to protect yourself and your family online, as well as updates relating to the latest phishing emails, please visit:
You can find examples of known phishing emails and current scam alerts through the following resources:
Regularly check SCAMwatch and Fraud Watch International for the latest examples of phishing emails and scam alerts targeting Australian consumers.
