IDCARE as Australia’s national identity and cyber support community service has been engaged by the ACT Government to assist individuals who have concerns about the exposure of their personal information.
The ACT Government have prepared a response page on their website. Keep abreast of developments in relation to this cyber incident by visiting the ACT Government website.
IDCARE is an independent charity focused on supporting community members that have concerns about their personal, account or credential information. We have been asked by the ACT Government to extend our support to impacted persons via the provision of expert advice, such as there recommendations below, and through our specialist Case Management service.
Note that IDCARE's National Case Management specialises in cases where individuals believe they have experienced identity exploitation and misuse or have grave concerns about this risk.
IDCARE Case Managers work every day with community members who experience the compromise or exploitation of their personal information. They understand the real risks, concerns and needs of our community. If you have specific concerns or seek further guidance on the below recommendations, please book a time with an IDCARE Case Manager via our Individual Get Help Form. In booking a time with IDCARE, please use the reference code provided in your notification.
The following advice is not specific to the ACT Government incident but is provided as general advice and guidance for individuals that have been affected by a data breach.
The exposure of name, date of birth, and contact details (such as phone number and/or email address) does heighten risks around scammer engagement. In fact, notifications about a breach itself can also heighten risks, as scammers can seek to impersonate the breached organisation when engaging with notified persons.
Remain scam vigilant by:
Assuming that communications you receive may be from a scammer.
Make your own enquiries using an alternative contact method to the one they used.
Never give remote access to your devices if asked by someone who engages you.
Keep your passwords and codes to yourself. Sharing these with scammers may mean you breach the terms and conditions of the account providers (such as your bank) and any chance of recovering funds highly unlikely.
Staying abreast of the latest scams by visiting Scamwatch or by subscribing to IDCARE’s free community awareness bulletin, Cyber Sushi
If you believe you have responded to a scam engagement, please complete an IDCARE Get Help form to request assistance.
IDCARE as a registered charity does not ask individuals to donate or pay for our front line services. We are not a charity that can receive tax deductible donations.
We rely on organisations that care enough about you to care about us to keep our charitable service going. Proudly these organisations are displayed above and on our Subscriber Organisations page.
If you are asked for payment from someone claiming to be from IDCARE, please report this to us using our Report Phishing email.
IDCARE has access to the Department of Home Affairs Free Interpreting Service, delivered by the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National). Access to the Free Interpreting Service is provided to assist you to communicate with non-English speaking people who hold a Medicare card. Please note that the service does not extend to New Zealand citizens or residents who do not hold an Australian Medicare card, or to tourists, overseas students or people on temporary work visas.
New Zealand Relay provides services to help Deaf, hearing impaired, speech impaired, Deafblind and standard phone users communicate with their peers.
A TTY user connects to New Zealand Relay via a toll-free number and types their conversation to a Relay Assistant (RA) who then reads out the typed message to a standard phone user (hearing person).
The RA relays the hearing person's spoken words by typing them back to the Textphone (TTY) User.
The National Relay Service (NRS) is an Australian government initiative that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing and/or have a speech impairment to make and receive phone calls.
The NRS is available 24 hours a day, every day and relays more than a million calls each year throughout Australia.