Riverview morning tea to teach online safety during Get Online Week

The Riverview Neighbourhood Watch Committee is holding a free "Building confidence on line" morning tea on Wednesday 21 October, as part of Get Online Week.

The event runs from 9am to 11am at the Riverview and District Community Centre, 138 Old Ipswich Road, Riverview. It will include guest speakers, among them representatives from the Queensland Police Service, along with helpful resources, handouts and a lucky door prize.

Get Online Week runs from 19 to 25 October. It is a campaign by The Good Things Foundation and the Be Connected Network, working with partners to help people build digital skills through local events and learn how to stay safe online.

Police say cybercrime includes attacks on computer systems and viruses, cyber-bullying, online harassment or stalking, phishing and spam emails, identity theft, online scams and fraud, illegal content, online child sexual abuse material, and issues buying and selling online.

Police encourage the following cyber safety steps:

• Use a strong password mixing upper and lower case letters, symbols and numbers, or a passphrase of several unrelated words.
• Avoid patterns such as ABC or 123, and personal details such as names, pets' names, dates of birth or addresses.
• Use a different password for each application.
• Lock your device and keep it secure when not in use.
• Keep software and virus protection updated.
• Only download apps from trusted sources.
• Use secure connections and avoid public Wi-Fi networks.

Police also warn that if something sounds too good to be true, it is, and people should never rush or act quickly.

Victims of cybercrime should report it quickly through Report Cyber so it can be referred to the right law enforcement agency.

For more information, contact the Ipswich District Crime Prevention Unit on 07 3436 3479. Information for police can be provided to Policelink, 24 hours a day, through the online suspicious activity form on the Queensland Police Service website. Crime Stoppers can be contacted anonymously on 1800 333 000 or through the Crime Stoppers Queensland website.