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Melbourne Polytechnic incident response

IDCARE as Australia’s national identity and cyber support community service has been engaged by Melbourne Polytechnic to assist individuals who have concerns about the exposure of their personal information.

IDCARE’s Role in Supporting You

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 Melbourne Polytechnic to extend our support to impacted persons via the provision of expert advice and IDCARE specialist Case Management services are available.

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.

General recommendations are provided below. If you have specific concerns or seek further guidance on the recommendations, please submit an Individual Get Help Form and use the reference code provided in your notification.

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.

General Advice and Guidance

The exposure of personal information such as name, date of birth, and contact details can 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.

Response Recommendations by Credentials

IDCARE has formed response recommendations relating to the credentials exposed as a result of the Melbourne Polytechnic cyber incident.

Full Name and Date of Birth

Potential Risks

Individually, these are both low risk identity attributes, however in combination with other information (such as address and phone number) scammers engaging you may appear more legitimate.

Recommendations

You may see an increase in targeted phishing attempts via email, text messaging or telephone calls, where the scammer uses details specific to you (such as your name and date of birth for “verification”). For more information on phishing watch IDCARE's what is phishing video here --> https://www.idcare.org/how-to-videos/what-is-phishing.

Never click on links in emails or text messages, no matter how legitimate they appear. Do not be pressured to respond, whether it is by email, text message or telephone. If you want to know whether an organisation tried to get in touch with you, contact the organisation yourself using contact details you know are correct.

Keep being scam vigilant and stay across the latest scams by regularly visiting idcare.org, connecting with our social media, and subscribing to our free online newsletter Cyber Sushi. Another great resource is Scamwatch that collate lots of information and alerts about scams.

Physical Address

Information

The physical address will be the one provided to Melbourne Polytechnic.

Potential Risks

For most individuals, physical addresses are considered low risk identity attributes. However, in combination with other attributes (such as your full name, date of birth, email address and phone number) scammers engaging you via email, SMS or telephone may appear more legitimate.

Reports made to IDCARE of cyber criminals physically attending a person’s address are very low. Most scammers and cybercriminals are not in Australia.

Some people can have specific concerns about the exposure of their address details, such as survivors of family and domestic violence or as a result of other personal reasons.

Recommendation

You may wish to discuss your concerns around physical security. You may engage an IDCARE Case Manager with these concerns, please book a time via our Get Help for Individuals Form.

Student ID Number

Information

This refers to the Student ID Number supplied for students by Melbourne Polytechnic.

Potential Risks

Student Identification Number is not a credential that can be used for identity verification purposes for account creation, and therefore, does not pose a direct risk of identity misuse.

Recommendation

If you have concerns about your Student Identification Number, please contact Melbourne Polytechnic via their MP Get Help Form.