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Early childhood educators working on Transition Learning and Development Statements are required to adhere to their service’s privacy policies in the handling of personal information. This tip highlights where you can find support and resources.

Click here to view the tip.

Reported widely in the press this week, both state and national agencies are providing an evolving response to the Optus data breach. Optus customers and former customers who received notification from Optus can find guidance from the OAIC and IDCARE.

Although it is uncertain if all the data was publicly leaked, security specialists advise that those notified should assume their data was compromised and act accordingly.

An immediate response to any compromise to an online account is to change the account’s credentials. Optus customers can use My Account Login – Optus to update the password and username (the account’s log in email address).

In the case of the Optus breach, customer’s sign-up ID numbers (passport, driver’s licence, or Medicare ID) may have been included.

Drivers Licence. VicRoads can assist breach victims that hold a Victorian drivers license to ensure any unauthorized use of their licence number is flagged and to request a licence change https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian-drivers-licence-record-flag-optus-breach.

Medicare ID. Although victim’s Medicare details can’t be accessed with the ID, there are options to replace Medicare Cards to avoid future identity theft. What to do if you’ve been affected by the recent Optus data breach (servicesaustralia.gov.au).

Passport. It is not possible to travel under a victims passport credential but replacements can be requested. Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade have an info page regarding the breach. Optus Data Breach | Australian Passport Office (passports.gov.au)

Along with those high point value forms of ID, other personal data leaked included name, date of birth, email addresses, postal address, phone numbers. Victims should guard for scammers leveraging the leak to target them further with phishing attempts.

Optus has reaffirmed it will never send hyperlinks through email or SMS notifications, and are currently offering to assist victims with credit monitoring Equifax Protect Eligibility (optus.com.au).

Anyone who thinks they have been impacted by the breach should also report it to the ACSC here: https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/report. 

If you missed our recent training webinars you can now view a video recording of the presentation.

Please register to view the webinar

Duration: 1 hour, 10 min

The video covers the topics from the course:

1. Websites and resources
2. Privacy and information sharing
3. Accessing the Online TLDS
4. Updating Service Details
5. Creating a child’s profile
6. Educator, child & family sections
7. Collaboration options
8. Completing a child’s TLDS
9. Questions & Feedback

Targeted phishing emails are currently being sent to registered services.

Below is an example:

ACECQA have responded and instructed recipients:

This is NOT an official email from ACECQA.

It is a spam email that should be deleted – do not click on the link.

If you did click on the link in the spam email and provided your email address and password information, we strongly recommend that you reset your email or account password as soon as possible.

The example email has some of the following warning signs you should be watching for:

• Unsolicited email requesting an action.
• Demands the victim respond to a time based ultimatum i.e. “will expire after 24 hours”.
• Includes threats i.e. “to revoke your business license”.
• Has “scraped” publicly available information to target the victim directly.
• Links to a fake site with a URL that differs from the real organisation’s domain.
• Links to a fake site that is not a .gov.au site.

Getting more support

If you have fallen victim to scammers you should follow the steps on the Scamwatch site here: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/get-help/where-to-get-help.

You can also seek help from cyber support services like IDCARE https://www.idcare.org/.

Just before you leave for the school break, it is helpful to:

1. Shut down your computer
2. Switch off the modem
3. Switch off the power and unplug at the wall socket
4. Add a post it note reminder to your computer screen stating – turn the modem and power back on

Following these steps can stop a possible power surge or damage to your computer. It also saves energy.

Webmail
If you want to check your webmail over the break, remember the new webmail is here: https://webmail.kindergarten.vic.gov.au/
The username is the full email address.
Please ensure that you know the password for your email account. If you are unsure what the password is, please contact our service desk.

Thank you to all the participants of the Technology Survey for 2022

Our survey is completed for 2022 with over twice the number of submissions from last year. 

Many staff found the time to complete the survey with great insights and suggestions. Overall, the survey affirms the areas of support we prioritise and helps us to identify new areas of improvement. We will be following up with many of you and responding to your requests.

Congratulations to De Garis Preschool!

The survey prize has been drawn and De Garis Preschool in Mildura is the lucky winner of the iPad prize.

Complete this 5 minute survey to have your say and give your service the chance to win an iPad! ​

https://surveys.kindergarten.vic.gov.au/index.php/221566?lang=en​

The Kindergarten IT Program would like to find out how we can improve the program for our service members. There are 8 to 10 questions covering technology needs, connectivity, service improvements and customer satisfaction. 

Your submission will enter your service in the prize draw for first prize, a 9th Generation 64GB WiFi iPad.

The survey will run from 18th of July to 7th of August 2022.​​

This survey is intended for employees and committee members of Victorian Early Childhood Education and Care services that make use of the Kindergarten IT Program. ​

​Survey Policy and prize draw Terms & Conditions. 

We have had reports of the ‘Deadbolt’ ransomware affecting kindergartens. The Deadbolt ransomware targets computers and networked attached storage (NAS).  Just like your computer, NAS devices should be kept secure by running security updates and turning off vulnerabilities.

Click here to view the tip

Smart phone users are vulnerable to a growing range of scam text messages. Scammers use tricks appear alongside legitimate services and contacts contacts . This tip provides advice and links to help you stay safe from scam text messages.

Click here to view the tip.

If you have a land-line phone number, you will likely have encountered these. But increasingly mobile numbers are being targeted as well. This tip provides advice and links to help you stay safe from scam phone calls.

Click here to view the tip.

Now available for enrolment

We are offering webinars of our courses on basic troubleshooting, website development, poster design and basic Excel spreadsheets.

The courses offered:

Practical IT Skills – 602

WordPress Website Development – 101

Making Creative Posters – 903

Beginners Excel Spreadsheets – 401

You can view the schedule and book a webinar session on our training page.

We have added a recording of our webinar course Website Development – 101 to our Tips section.

You can view the video online here: WordPress webinar recording