Staying ahead of online fraudsters
Cyber scams, romance scams, identity theft and Internet fraud are just some of the issues being tackled by the Internet Commerce Security Laboratory at University of Ballarat Technology Park.
A team of about 30 staff works closely with police and other stakeholders to stay one step ahead of the fraud and crime happening online in Australia and internationally.
With internet crime on the rise, the work of the ICSL aims to protect businesses and consumers.
It has a particular focus on assisting financial institutions and users of Internet banking and financial services.
ICSL Research Director and Associate Professor Paul Watters said detecting online crime was becoming more of a priority for stakeholders during the current economic climate.
“When people try to steal money from a financial institution’s customers, we analyse the data to find out how they are trying to do that,” he said.
“The information gained is passed onto police to identify who is responsible.
“Criminals can be innovative, but we would have to say that as a team we enjoy not just uncovering what crime has been done, but tracking the criminals and staying a step ahead of them by being better than what they are.
“Our location at the Tech Park means we can get things moving because it is a small community but there is a lot of expertise.
“You can go up the hill to the main campus or over the road to IBM – I hope it continues to grow as a high-tech precinct,” Mr Watters said.
ICSL staff will be speaking at the 2009 Innovation Festival “Regional Innovations in Cyber Safety Forum” hosted by University of Ballarat at the Greenhill Enterprise Centre tomorrow from 4pm – 6pm.
The ICSL is an alliance formed by Westpac Banking Corporation, IBM Australia, State Government of Victoria and University of Ballarat.
The Courier, 12 May 2009
