Labor’s solar battery promise – won’t help most Aussies (off-grid, rooftop solar) The truth of Labor’s solar battery promise is that it affects less than 10% of Australian households, and the 4M that have solar panel installations may not be battery-ready, many requiring expensive retrofits or simply not being able to afford it. Before you think this is a political opinion article, it is not.
Please consider that CyberShack has significant expertise in rooftop solar, including A three-part series that follows the path from the desire to have solar (Part 1) to the investigation into solar (Part 2) and the result (Part 3).A rooftop solar guide for Strata buildingsWe will publish actual figures for the test home in July.
Trend Micro research reveals how Australian consumer misconceptions are fuelling scam vulnerability We spoke with Ashley Millar, Director of Consumer Education at Trend Micro, about new research revealing how common misconceptions are leaving Aussies wide open to online scams. From fake delivery texts to investment fraud, Ashley explained the most common slip-ups, how scammers exploit trust, and how free tools like ScamChecker can help Aussies spot red flags before it’s too late. Read the full report here. Overconfidence in scam detection Believe it or not, 31% of Australian consumers think that they can only fall victim to online scams if they overshare personal information online. But with the rise of data breaches, consumers are at risk of cybercriminals obtaining their personal data through many other avenues. Once cybercriminals have obtained personal data, they can conduct a variety of crimes including scams, fraud, or identity theft.47% of respondents believe scams can be easily identified by spotting grammar or spelling errors in messages or emails. While that used to be an easy way to spot scams, cybercriminals now use generative AI tools to create convincing messages that contain none of these signs.Almost a third (32%) agree that they can only be extorted if they share explicit photos or videos online. The data shows otherwise, these consumers underestimate the depth of manipulation used by scammers.
Smarter Home Protection with Arlo Secure Plans We get asked about spending money on home security plan to go with your security cameras. We are asking different camera companies about the benefits of subscribing to their paid plans. First up is Arlo who have a detailed subscription offering.
Arlo Technologies, a leading smart home security brand, believes investing in a seamless and reliable security plan means greater control, superior protection and peace of mind that comes with intelligent, more responsive protection. Keeping your home safe has never been easier. But are you getting the most out of your cameras? Arlo Secure Plans unlock powerful features for better alerts, advanced AI detection, and more custom control. How do I know which plan is right for me? Your ideal plan depends on what you need. The Basic Plan is perfect for essential security. It includes 30-day video history and smart activity zones. Watch, save, and share your videos. You can also choose which areas trigger alerts. This plan suits those who want to review footage and customise motion alerts. For real-time security, upgrade to the Arlo Secure Plus Plan. It gives you access to smarter alerts powered by AI and tools to act fast when it counts.
Scammers got smarter—and unfortunately, so did their tricks. This week, we looked into a Telstra email scam that left one customer locked out of her account, frustrated, and battling for nearly six hours over the phone and in-store trying to regain control. Matt McBurney joined us to discuss the issue being affected by customers of BigPond Email. The phishing emails had continued slipping past Telstra’s spam filters, but the real damage came after the scammers took control. They set up auto-forwarding rules, created new email accounts, and even generated app-specific passwords—allowing them to stay inside the victim’s inbox even after the main password was changed.
We spoke with Matthew McBurney from Clicks Online, who helped the victim through the ordeal. He broke down how the scam worked, why Telstra’s current security responses weren’t enough, and shared the step-by-step process needed to kick scammers out of your inbox for good. Here is the outline from Matt on what to do to close the access AND stop the issue from causing problems to you – As we have spoken about in the past the scammer, once they have control of the account, set up a new email address with an online service, Outlook or Gmail, and set up automatic forwarding from the Telstra webmail interface. They then stay logged into the webmail interface so if the account holder deletes the auto forwarder they can put it back in place.Telstra, once their system has noticed the log in from a strange location, will lock the account and tell the customer they need to change their password to get access to the account again. This does not however take away the auto forwarder.What the scammers are now doing, to ensure they don’t lose access to the account when the password is changed, is to create App Specific passwords for the account, multiple passwords so they can use the account over multiple systems.As you know that means, even with the password changed, and the forwarding deleted the scammer stills has access to the victims email account.What to do once you have fallen for the scam.Change your Telstra Password.Either by Calling 132200 and speak to Tech supportorGo to email.telstra.com and choose the option of Recover account after you put your email address in. You will be sent either a text message with a link to press on and more questions to answer, or an email to a second email address, also with a link to click on and more questions to answerOnce the password has been changed you need to go into the Telstra Webmail at email.telstra.comYou then need to click on the 9 squares in the top left corner of the window and go to Mail. When you scroll down you will see Auto Forward, delete any email address listed in there.You then need to once again click on the 9 squares in the top left corner and go to accountIn the password section you need to go to Manage App Specific Passwords and delete all listed passwords.Once you have done those tasks you will then need to go into the email program you use on your computer, phone and tablet and put the new password in you created so they will work for both sending and receiving emails.If you want to check to see if they are working, send yourself an email. You should be also able to reply to the email.
Espresso Display – Pro 15 If you’ve ever wished your laptop had just a bit more screen space—without the bulk of a second monitor—this one’s for you. We caught up with Will Scuderi, Co-founder and CEO of espresso Displays, to talk about their latest innovation: the espresso 15 Pro. It’s a stunning, ultra-portable touchscreen display designed to give creatives, remote workers, and on-the-go professionals more freedom, flexibility, and functionality—wherever they work. With a sleek design, vivid 4K visuals, and compatibility across Macs, PCs, and even smartphones, the espresso 15 Pro might just change the way you think about portable productivity. Espresso has sent us one of these 15 Pro displays and we will review asap and publish on CyberShack.com like other reviews of Espresso Display products. I will say this about buying hardware in general, if you buy cheap, from a brand that does not provide support to other customers, its likely they will NOT provide support to you should your cheap piece of hardware have an issue. I say this as a collection point for many, many complaints about hardware makers, especially cheap ones. So if you are wanting a portable monitor, don’t buy a cheap one from a brand that does not support other customers. The Espresso Pro 15 goes on sale at the end of next week, from Espresso Displays website
I have said on the show a number of times that cyber criminals look for honey pots of either data or money (or both!). Their goal with data is to use it to grab access to a corresponding pot of cash. Here is where Super Funds come to the party. We have Trillions sitting in Super. So if you were going to target a pot of money, this is a very large one. By grabbing your data, the goal is to use it to then steal your money.
So it was with some concern when many Australians, including me, logged into their super fund account this week to see a running balance of $0. Funds have been targeted this week so like many, we headed to our funds to check all was well. I am with Australian Super and in my opinion their communication with customers was rubbish. No email, no alert on Twitter/X, no alert on my app when I eventually logged in (it took hours!). I did get a reply from Aus Super on Twitter/X after I posted, but this is not close to good enough. It was not just me, there were comments all over the internet about similar experiences. We have trillions of dollars sitting in Super and Aus Super is the largest Industry Fund, under attack and not communicating with customers, not fast enough anyway.
The communication is one thing, but putting this to the side – we all need to work to ensure our money is kept safe and we all have a requirement to do our bit.
How can you do your bit?
Two things, firstly your password. Only ever use a good password, and use it once for each online service. To help you, try a password manager like Bitwarden
Second, use the 2-factor authentication on your account. This means if some one tries to log in, you will get an alert to your phone (usually your phone). This means there are two things needed to access your money.
You MUST use both these features because it will provide higher level security for your account, and if this is breached you can present to the fund that you ‘did the right thing’ in protecting your account.
Staying connected while traveling can be expensive, but Simify is changing the game. Andrew Marigliani explains how Simify offers Australian travelers unlimited eSIM roaming data with no hidden fees—helping you stay online without breaking the bank.
As international travel roars back to life, data-hungry Australian travellers are demanding the freedom of unlimited travel eSIM plans, after years of overpaying for outdated roaming deals. This freedom in the form of unlimited roaming data overseas without fees is finally now here and readily available from Australian international roaming provider Simify.You can find Simify’s unlimited roaming data plans here: https://simify.com/en-au
Bowers & Wilkins has teamed up with McLaren to create the ultimate luxury earbuds. John Martin, Sales Director from Bowers and Wilkins, introduces the Pi8 McLaren Edition, blending high-performance audio with cutting-edge design for a premium listening experience.
