The scams and breaches doing the rounds.
Plain-English cyber security for the bush — what's actually happening, why it matters out here, and the simple things that keep you ahead of it. Written by someone who lives here.
myID and ConnectID: two very different jobs on the same rails
myID gets you into the government; ConnectID gets you into a business through your bank. Same law, same register, two jobs, and from 1 December they start to cross. Plus a one-day correction to part 1.
Digital ID · Part 1What a digital ID actually is, and why you've probably already got one
If you've logged into myGov with the little app that asks for a code, you've got one. Fifteen million of us do. On 30 November the system opens to private companies, and nobody sent a letter. Part 1 of 5: what a digital ID actually is.
Cyber help · AI toolsIs my stuff safe inside an AI tool?
Elliott Prince runs his whole business through an AI assistant. A woman on the webinar asked the only question that mattered: how do you know it's safe? His answer wasn't technical. Five things I'd do, including the one setting to find tonight.
Cyber help · Part 4What's coming, and what you can do now
A lot of websites will tell you the small-business exemption has been removed. It hasn't — no law removing it has passed Parliament, and there's no firm date. But something else did land: since June last year Australians have a personal right to sue over a serious invasion of their privacy, and it doesn't care about the exemption at all. Plus a plain checklist — one for you as a customer, one for you as a small operator.
Cyber help · Part 3Out here, the safety net has a hole in it
Queensland does have its own privacy law — but it only binds the government side of the ledger: departments, statutory bodies and councils. Not the shop, the tradie or the caravan park. So if the federal Act doesn't reach a private operator out here, there's no state law sitting behind it to catch them. Plus the council data-breach scheme that started barely a month ago, which almost nobody knows about.
Cyber help · Part 2Who actually has to protect your data? (Most small businesses don't.)
Most people assume every business holding their details is legally bound to protect them. In Australia that isn't true — the Privacy Act only reaches businesses turning over more than $3 million a year, which leaves around 95% of Australian businesses outside it. But health providers are covered all the way down. Here's what that means for a town like ours.
Cyber help · Part 1Two medical data breaches in a month, and why "out here" doesn't mean "safe"
The weak link isn't your doctor — it's the app. Two Australian healthcare breaches in a single month exposed patient records through booking apps and third-party suppliers the clinics don't even own. Here's what it means for the bush, and the five simple things you can do about it.
Below those: the full four-part series on what businesses really owe you — start at who's actually covered and read forward. Next up: the scams, breaches and simple defences that matter most out here. Want them by email? Send a note to info@cyberbushies.com and a person will add you.