Wagga region farmers are being targeted by sophisticated hackers intent on holding their information hostage.
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This concerning new threat was the topic of cyber security training sessions held at Riverina Co-op this week.
Leon Ware from Veritech ran the sessions and said too often he didn't meet people until it was already too late.
“Often they’re already in trouble,” Mr Ware said.
“They get hit by these attacks and have to spend a lot of money, including ransoms, leaving them out of pocket.”
According to the government’s Scamwatch website, scammers send emails that trick users into installing software that allows them to access files and track usage, while ransomware demands payment to ‘unlock’ the computer or files.
Riverina Co-op general manager Kevin Salmon said he helped arrange the sessions after hearing from farmers who’d fallen victim to the attacks.
“These attacks are clever and they're continuing to evolve,” Mr Salmon said.
“With farmers, they probably don't get a lot of emails and when they do get these ones it can catch them unaware.”
AGL and ANZ customers were among those targeted by ransomware scammers this year, but Mr Ware said the attacks were becoming more targeted as well.
“If they can compromise a website and get hold of an email database then they can specifically target industries,” he said.
“People are saying they're starting to see dodgy emails from places like land services.”
Scamwatch recommends not opening attachments or clicking on links in emails or social media messages from strangers, being wary of free downloads and website access, such as music, games, movies and adult sites and using strong passwords.
The website also recommended keeping computer security up-to-date with anti-virus, anti-spyware software and a good firewall purchased from reputable sources.