Now is the time that many people are looking for rental accommodation to take up for 2012 whether it be for studying at Uni or other reasons.  We have noticed a spate of rental accommodation scams lately where a real bargain flat, apartment or house or flatmate situation is offered on one of a multitude of websites. Often it is advertised as central and includes great photos as well.  It will have lots of extras (like power and water included as well as internet access, dishwasher, heat pump etc).  The owner will be overseas and needs you to accept the offer without actually going through the place (which seems ok if you are in a different part of the country at the time).

So you look at the photos, email back and forth a few times and decide this will be great for you and the owner sounds really nice.  He or she may even email you a passport photo of themselves and the Title Deed to the property.

All you have to do is deposit the bond (say 4 weeks rent) and 2 weeks rent in advance into their bank account overseas or send it by Western Union because they can’t get to a bank easily, and the keys will be sent back to you as soon as the money clears so you have them well before you take up the tenancy.  The stories may vary a bit, but money first for keys second is the familiar theme – oh and along the way you will be asked to fill out an application form with a lot of personal information in included.

We have found that the photos of the rental may have been on a real estate sales site in the last few months or a different site under the actual owner’s name.  The photos have been copied and used to try to trick someone into parting with money or at the very least with personal information.

Read more about scams on www.scamwatch.govt.nz the Ministry or Consumer Affairs website and report scams to www.theorb.org.nz

It’s not the red carpet, it’s not what [or rather who] people are wearing, because I don’t enjoy all the other celebrity at home or in rehab programmes that are available, its something else. I think its the bits where they talk about what it was like to make the movie/album/website that I like. You get a sense of something else behind the “thing” that your familiar with. You get a feeling that it took more than just the artist with his tools, that it didn’t just happen in 5 minutes, and that those that were involved actually stuggled to achieve the output. I like that feeling.

The 2002 The International Law Enforcement Cybercrime Award

NetSafe have won a few awards in our time. Awards for the schools programme, awards for our websites, we even got The International Law Enforcement Cybercrime Award in 2002 from the Mounties……well actually it was from The Society for the Policing of Cyberspace, but they are based in Canada and I always called it the Mounties award. It feels good to be on the receiving end of an award.

Its because of this that we have decided that its about time that we started to officially recognise some of the amazing work that goes on here in New Zealand to build confident and capable Internet users. There are so many occasions that we work with organisations and individuals that are making a real and significant difference to the cybersafety, cybersecurity or digital citizenship equations in this country where the only way we can recognise the work that they do is to write a blog, or put an article in a newsletter.

To this end, we have decided to inaugurate [a very official awards sounding kind of word] the NetSafe “Love Your Work.” awards.  Love Your Work is a chance to recognise individuals or organisations for programmes, events, ideas, products, services or just about any singular “thing” that makes a significant contribution to improving cybersafety, cybersecurity  or digital citizenship in New Zealand. We will be presenting the first of the awards at our AGM in December. You are cordially invited to come along.

We would love to hear from you if you would like to nominate someone for a Love your Work award, but there are a few rules that we should set out;

• You can’t nominate yourself.
• A nomination should be in the form of a name (Individual or organisation) with a brief summary of why you are making the nomination, and what contribution they have made
• The judges decisions are final, no correspondence will be entered into regarding the awards.
• No cash substitutions are available
• No animals will be harmed in the making of the awards.

If you want to find out more, or you’d like to make a nomination, drop us a line at feedback@netsafe.org.nz

I’m quite excited about the whole thing as it shows (quoting the words of Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Steven Joyce) that “cyber security is becoming increasingly important for New Zealanders, businesses and government” .

The staff at NetSafe would wholeheartedly agree on this point as we deal day in and day out with a whole host of support calls, emails and Orb reports from people around the country hoping for help and advice with all kinds of issues, many of them now involving  loss – loss of time, loss of data, loss of money and often loss of sleep.

The world of cybersafety has certainly evolved and matured since NetSafe was founded in 1998 (we share this teenage status with Google) and technology has improved to automatically protect computers and computer users.

That’s no reason to get complacent though as this recent report from American security company RSA on Advanced Persistent Threats makes it plain that “social engineering is now the #1 threat vector”:

Anyone can be phished given the right context – and attackers have growing access to information about would-be targets through social networking sites that help them identify the right people to go after within the organization and also personalize their attacks

In the last week or so security researchers have demonstrated a real world hack for the SSL/TLS protocol known as Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS (BEAST) that protects online banking and e-commerce websites all round the world (note: there’s a solution from 2006 that may soon be rolled out to solve this issue).

And the US departments of Homeland Security and Commerce have issued an RFP to develop a security programme which would have major American ISPs detect and notify customers they are part of a botnet army.

The team at NetSafe is currently working on a new national education and awareness programme that should address some of these growing cyber security concerns and will be another part of the Cyber Security Strategy. Watch this space for updates and more infomation on the partners who will be guiding our efforts to protect more New Zealand consumers and small businesses when they go online.

In the 21st century, where hordes of paparazzi and every citizen with a mobile phone can scoop an embarrassing night club exit you’d think the rich and famous would be a little more cautious about how they controlled their digital footprint.

And yet news reaches us this week that starlet Scarlett Johanssen has called in the FBI over leaked nude photos taken from her mobile phone.

The star of one of my favourite films, Lost in Translation, is apparently just the latest in a long line of celebs being literally exposed online through theft or data loss and will likely not be the last to have cellphone photos passed around.

How does this impact on New Zealand teens?

If taking or sharing nude photos is good enough for Hollywood stars, then the technology within reach of most teens can often be put to use in a modern romantic relationship and sexting – the texting of naked images – is thought to be widespread in New Zealand.

It’s a cybersafety issue many groups globally have tried to persuade teens is a bad idea. Once that photo is taken and shared with your current partner there’s nothing stopping them sending it on to friends or enemies if you break up (or even if you don’t).

It has in fact also been the downfall of many adults too, including the recent high profile fall of US politician Anthony Weiner.

Sexting safety advice:

• Think carefully before you use that cameraphone to snap a private pic – even if you don’t send the photo on to anyone else, if your mobile is lost or stolen there’s every chance a thief will be able to access the digital images stored – install mobile security software that lets you find, lock or wipe your phone
• Sharing a digital file with a loved one means the loss of control over that picture – think about where it may end up if you argue or split up
• If you’re sent images of a school or classmate don’t forward them on to others – bystanders can help in situations like this by deleting images, not becoming part of the problem by spreading personal images further
• If you’ve taken a photo and shared it on Facebook (even if you think you’ve locked down your privacy settings) you’ve also lost control of the data – deleting pictures from websites is almost impossible

We’re fortunate in New Zealand that the Police treat sexting among minors with sensitivity and common sense – in many American states these images are associated with child pornography and can result in those involved being registered as sex offenders.

If you’re concerned about sexting get in touch with NetSafe. And have a look at this video ‘Megan’s Story’ from ThinkUKnow Australia which explains the issue in a simple and emotional way:

The organisation produces a video each year around the topic chosen and you can see the latest below on the theme of digital lives, the impact of sharing photos online and the ownership of information:

I’m not sure I understand this video completely but it’s prompted some debate in the NetSafe office about which cybersafety/digital literacy videos are the most effective in trying to reach a youth audience.

We’ve chosen 5 below on the topics of cyberbullying and internet safety in general. They are produced by organisations around the globe and take a very different approach to delivering the message.

Take a look at the ones we’ve chosen and please leave a comment about which one you think is best (based on tone /production values /any criteria you want to use).

If you’re an educator would you use any of these in your school and with your students?

We’d really value your feedback on this topic, details about the appropriate audience for these kinds of messages and if you think they spark some understanding with children and their parents.

5 short videos to review

First up we’ve chosen ‘Where’s Klaus‘ – Klaus is upstairs at home inviting some less than ideal friends to come visit

Next is a similar tale of unsuitable new childhood friends from Icelandic ISP Siminn – instead of CGI robots shooting up the house you have tweens and teens frequenting nightclubs, stripclubs and casinos:

Our third short video was also produced (in 2009) under the Safer Internet Day banner and shows the harmful effect of IM or online chat bullying:

This next video is aimed squarely at teens 13 – 16 years of age experimenting with webcams and their sexuality online and was produced by the Danish Media Council for Children and Young People:

Our last pick comes from the US Ad Council who have created some well known resources under the themes Delete Cyberbullying and Think Before You Post. This video simply titled Talent Show takes the insults associated with cyberbullying and exposes how unacceptable making those kind of remarks would be in front of a public audience:

What works?

Every nation addressing internet safety has a different cultural view of the problem and of ways to change behaviour – which video would be effective for your family, friends or students?

Leave a comment below or pick a choice on the poll top right of this page.

Georgia State Capital building shrouded in grey skys

Sean and Lee from NetSafe are in the southern US state of Georgia this week delivering the training modules associated with the NetSafe Kit for Schools.

Whilst the visit has been on the cards for several months, their timing appears to have coincided with severe flooding that has left 7 people dead as massive rainfall has swept the southern states.

Undeterred, the pair are now feeding back updates on their visit as they share their wisdom and training techniques with a crowd of 30 attendees who will be delivering cybersafety training to teachers and students in schools all across the state.

Trainers attend the courses over video conference from across the state

NetSafe was approached by educators in Georgia several years ago and an agreement was reached to provide the New Zealand schools kit for use across 159 counties.

Sean and Lee are spending 5 days working in Atlanta. Many of the participants are coming in to the classroom over video conference due partly to the size of the state (it’s roughly the same size as the North Island and has more than 5 million people living in the Atlanta metro area alone) and partly because of the horrendous weather.

We hope the course goes well, the rains subside and that they build strong ties with the Georgia cybersafety trainers.

There’s plenty of time to get used to biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Our new model, to be titled ‘Learn – Guide – Protect’, reflects the changing face of ICT in schools and the fact that things have come along leaps and bounds since the kit was first launched in 2001.

The short 9 minute video below covers Martin’s introduction to the meeting and how our thinking around cybersafe schools has evolved. It should also give you a taste of what happens at our monthly meetings.

If you’d like to be involved in the LGP drafting process or come along to the next meeting then leave a comment or email us at queries@netsafe.org.nz.

We hope the new framework will allow greater involvement with teachers working through issues in the classroom and other professionals who are making increased use of what technology has to offer New Zealand students.

NetSafe often recommends that young people be aware of their digital footprint when posting comments or pictures online, both of themselves and friends. With this in mind I trialled the new Google search index this morning that has been making the news on technology sites.

Codenamed ‘Caffeine’, the new and improved (think caffeinated) search results certainly seemed to bring more accurate results when looking for my own online profiles. If you give the Google Caffeine Compare tool a go it’s easy to see how the old and new matches stack up.

Also try out the face search tool by the same developers to hunt for instances of your mugshot that you may not be aware exist online (or global doppelgängers/identity thieves).

If you’ve aleady registered for The Whatsit? (it’s free), do let us now how you’ve found using the website including any things we can improve or add in the future.