The annual cyber threat report released by the Australian Signals Directorate on Tuesday, November 19, highlights the ongoing trends and new techniques which cyber criminals are using to scam Australians.

The report signalled the new techniques used by cybercriminals including sophisticated artificial intelligence and fake QR codes or quishing to make people give up sensitive information or download harmful files. The Australian government agency has warned citizens of scammers using technology to dupe them.

ASD also raised concerns over the “shifting tactics” of state-sponsored hackers and cybercriminals who silently infiltrate the computer systems of companies and organisations to avoid being detected and then wait until they decide to attack.

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“State-sponsored cyber operations increase as geostrategic tensions change, while cybercriminals and hacktivists also … remain an ongoing and persistent threat,” said Abigail Bradshaw, the ASD director general, as per a Guardian report.

According to the report released for the financial year of 2023-24, the agency received 87,000 complaints of cybercrime and responded to 1,100 reports. According to Defence Minister Richard Marles, while the number of cybercrime incidents was similar to that of last year, the cost and impact of the incidents have been increasing over time. The average cost of a cybercrime report for an individual was $30,700, while for small businesses the cost has been going up to nearly $50,000.

The ASD report also revealed that 11 per cent of cybercrime incidents targeted vital infrastructure like water, electricity, transport, and gas. The reports included those with malware infections, systems compromised by intruders, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

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Earlier this year in February, ASD partnered with the United States and other nations, criticising China-sponsored criminals who gained access to critical infrastructure in the US amid growing allegations that hacker groups were “pre-positioning” for cyber attacks in future.

“The 2023-24 report highlights an evolution in cyber threats aimed at Australia’s most critical networks and the shifting tactics of both state-sponsored cyber actors and cybercriminals to target these networks,” said Bradshaw.

The report also mentioned cybercriminals using AI and QR codes to create content for scamming people using sophisticated techniques like deepfake videos or audio clips.

(With inputs from agencies)

The annual cyber threat report released by the Australian Signals Directorate on Tuesday, November 19, highlights the ongoing trends and new techniques which cyber criminals are using to scam Australians.

The annual cyber threat report released by the Australian Signals Directorate on Tuesday, November 19, highlights the ongoing trends and new techniques which cyber criminals are using to scam Australians. The report signalled the new techniques used by cybercriminals including sophisticated artificial intelligence and fake QR codes or quishing to make people give up sensitive information or download harmful files. The Australian government agency has warned citizens of scammers using technology to dupe them. ASD also raised concerns over the “shifting tactics” of state-sponsored hackers and cybercriminals who silently infiltrate the computer systems of companies and organisations to avoid being detected and then wait until they decide to attack. Also read | Elon Musk to be summoned by UK MPs over X's role in UK riots “State-sponsored cyber operations increase as geostrategic tensions change, while cybercriminals and hacktivists also … remain an ongoing and persistent threat,” said Abigail Bradshaw, the ASD director general, as per a Guardian report. According to the report released for the financial year of 2023-24, the agency received 87,000 complaints of cybercrime and responded to 1,100 reports. According to Defence Minister Richard Marles, while the number of cybercrime incidents was similar to that of last year, the cost and impact of the incidents have been increasing over time. The average cost of a cybercrime report for an individual was $30,700, while for small businesses the cost has been going up to nearly $50,000. The ASD report also revealed that 11 per cent of cybercrime incidents targeted vital infrastructure like water, electricity, transport, and gas. The reports included those with malware infections, systems compromised by intruders, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Also read | Cambridge Dictionary picks 'manifest' as Word of the Year 2024, here's why Earlier this year in February, ASD partnered with the United States and other nations, criticising China-sponsored criminals who gained access to critical infrastructure in the US amid growing allegations that hacker groups were “pre-positioning” for cyber attacks in future. “The 2023-24 report highlights an evolution in cyber threats aimed at Australia’s most critical networks and the shifting tactics of both state-sponsored cyber actors and cybercriminals to target these networks,” said Bradshaw. The report also mentioned cybercriminals using AI and QR codes to create content for scamming people using sophisticated techniques like deepfake videos or audio clips. (With inputs from agencies)

Australian Signals Directorate report highlights new techniques, trends used by cybercriminals

A woman in China received the shock of her life when she went to a restaurant to have a hearty meal but ended up receiving a $60,000 (430,000 yuan) bill for food that she had not even ordered.

A woman in China received the shock of her life when she went to a restaurant to have a hearty meal but ended up receiving a $60,000 (430,000 yuan) bill for food that she had not even ordered. The woman, surnamed Wang, visited a hotpot restaurant alongside her friend last month and as is the norm in the internet age, posted photos of the dishes on her social media. However, in one of the photos, she included the QR code of the table on which she and her friend were dining. Since COVID-19, a number of restaurants have put up QR codes on tables which allows customers to order food using their smartphones. While the technology was for the convenience of Wang and others, the netizens who saw the QR code started using it to order food online. The tab of which, obviously, went into Wang's account. According to the South China Morning Post, although Wang added the photo on her restricted viewing WeChat Moments page, which can only be seen by her contacts in WeChat, that list included a large number of people who started scanning the code and making themselves comfortable. Also read | Explained | Why China consumes snake soup in winter and why it is disappearing Restaurant staff approaches Wang Surprised by the flurry of orders, the restaurant staff arrived at Wang's table to confirm the $60,000 order. Quickly realising what was happening, Wang immediately deleted her post but the orders kept on coming. Turns out, some users had downloaded the photo and continued making orders, in hopes of receiving the food. Wang later shared the screenshot of the orders made from her table which showed people ordering 1,850 portions of fresh duck blood, 2,580 portions of squid and 9,990 portions of shrimp paste. Watch | How processed food is bad for you × Acting in good faith, the restaurant management did not make Wang pay the bill and instead, moved her to a new table while binning the orders received online. The restaurant said it did not have the resources to track down the people who ordered the food and that it could not stop them from continuing to do so. The incident went viral on Chinese social media and users pointed out the inherent risks of using QR codes for ordering purposes. Some suggested that the restaurant ordering system designers add a confirmation mechanism to prevent a similar incident from happening in future. (With inputs from agencies)

China: Woman shocked by $60,000 bill at restaurant after posting her table QR code

When people enter Teeth, a bar in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, the bouncer gives them options. They can order food and drinks at the bar, he says, or they can order via a QR code.

Each table at Teeth has a card emblazoned with the code, a pixelated black-and-white square. Customers simply scan it with their phone camera to open a website for the online menu. Then they can input their credit card information to pay, all without touching a paper menu or interacting with a server.

A scene like this was a rarity 18 months ago, but not anymore. “In 13 years of bar ownership in San Francisco, I’ve never seen a sea change like this that brought the majority of customers into a new behavior so quickly,” said Ben Bleiman, Teeth’s owner.

QR codes — essentially a kind of bar code that allows transactions to be touchless — have emerged as a permanent tech fixture from the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants have adopted them en masse, retailers including CVS and Foot Locker have added them to checkout registers, and marketers have splashed them all over retail packaging, direct mail, billboards and TV advertisements.

But the spread of the codes has also let businesses integrate more tools for tracking, targeting and analytics, raising red flags for privacy experts. That’s because QR codes can store digital information such as when, where and how often a scan occurs. They can also open an app or a website that then tracks people’s personal information or requires them to input it.

As a result, QR codes have allowed some restaurants to build a database of their customers’ order histories and contact information. At retail chains, people may soon be confronted by personalized offers and incentives marketed within QR code payment systems.

“People don’t understand that when you use a QR code, it inserts the entire apparatus of online tracking between you and your meal,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Suddenly your offline activity of sitting down for a meal has become part of the online advertising empire.”

QR codes may be new to many American shoppers, but they have been popular internationally for years. Invented in 1994 to streamline car manufacturing at a Japanese company, QR codes became widely used in China in recent years after being integrated into the AliPay and WeChat Pay digital payment apps.

In the United States, the technology was hampered by clumsy marketing, a lack of consumer understanding and the hassle of needing a special app to scan the codes, said Scott Stratten, who wrote the 2013 business book “QR Codes Kill Kittens” with his wife, Alison Stratten.

That has changed for two reasons, Scott Stratten said. In 2017, he said, Apple made it possible for the cameras in iPhones to recognize QR codes, spreading the technology more widely. Then came the “pandemic, and it’s amazing what a pandemic can make us do,” he said.

Half of all full-service restaurant operators in the United States have added QR code menus since the start of the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association. In May 2020, PayPal introduced QR code payments and has since added them at CVS, Nike, Foot Locker and around 1 million small businesses. Square, another digital payments firm, rolled out a QR code ordering system for restaurants and retailers in September.

Cheqout and Mr. Yum, two startups that sell technology for creating QR code menus at restaurants, also said the codes had brought advantages to businesses.

Restaurants that use QR code menus can save 30% to 50% on labor costs by reducing or eliminating the need for servers to take orders and collect payments, said Tom Sharon, a co-founder of Cheqout.

Digital menus also make it easier to persuade people to spend more with offers to add fries or substitute more expensive spirits in a cocktail, with photographs of menu items to make them more appealing, said Kim Teo, a Mr. Yum co-founder. Orders placed through the QR code menu also let Mr. Yum inform restaurants what items are selling, so they can add a menu section with the most popular items or highlight dishes they want to sell.

These increased digital abilities are what worry privacy experts. Mr. Yum, for instance, uses cookies in the digital menu to track a customer’s purchase history and gives restaurants access to that information, tied to the customer’s phone number and credit cards. It is piloting software in Australia so restaurants can offer people a “recommended to you” section based on their previous orders, Teo said.

QR codes “are an important first step toward making your experience in physical space outside of your home feel just like being tracked by Google on your screen,” said Lucy Bernholz, director of Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab.

Teo said that each restaurant’s customer data was available only to that establishment and that Mr. Yum did not use the information to reach out to customers. It also does not sell the data to any third-party brokers, she said.

Cheqout collects only customers’ names, phone numbers and protected payment information, which it does not sell to third parties, Sharon said.

On a recent blustery evening at Teeth, customers shared mixed reviews of the QR code ordering system from Cheqout, which the bar had installed in August. Some said it was convenient, but added that they would prefer a traditional menu at a fine dining establishment.

“If you’re on a date and you’re whipping your phone out, it’s a distraction,” Daniela Sernich, 29, said.

Jonathan Brooner-Contreras, 26, said that QR code ordering was convenient but that he feared the technology would put him out of his job as a bartender at a different bar in the neighborhood.

“It’s like if a factory replaced all of its workers with robots,” he said. “People depend on those 40 hours.”

Regardless of customers’ feelings, Bleiman said Cheqout’s data showed that about half of Teeth’s orders — and as much as 65% during televised sports games — were coming through the QR code system.

“They may not like it,” he said in a text message. “But they’re doing it!”

When people enter Teeth, a bar in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, the bouncer gives them options. They can order food and drinks at the bar, he says, or they can order via a QR code.

When people enter Teeth, a bar in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, the bouncer gives them options. They can order food and drinks at the bar, he says, or they can order via a QR code. Each table at Teeth has a card emblazoned with the code, a pixelated black-and-white square. Customers simply scan it with their phone camera to open a website for the online menu. Then they can input their credit card information to pay, all without touching a paper menu or interacting with a server. A scene like this was a rarity 18 months ago, but not anymore. “In 13 years of bar ownership in San Francisco, I’ve never seen a sea change like this that brought the majority of customers into a new behavior so quickly,” said Ben Bleiman, Teeth’s owner. QR codes — essentially a kind of bar code that allows transactions to be touchless — have emerged as a permanent tech fixture from the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants have adopted them en masse, retailers including CVS and Foot Locker have added them to checkout registers, and marketers have splashed them all over retail packaging, direct mail, billboards and TV advertisements. But the spread of the codes has also let businesses integrate more tools for tracking, targeting and analytics, raising red flags for privacy experts. That’s because QR codes can store digital information such as when, where and how often a scan occurs. They can also open an app or a website that then tracks people’s personal information or requires them to input it. As a result, QR codes have allowed some restaurants to build a database of their customers’ order histories and contact information. At retail chains, people may soon be confronted by personalized offers and incentives marketed within QR code payment systems. “People don’t understand that when you use a QR code, it inserts the entire apparatus of online tracking between you and your meal,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Suddenly your offline activity of sitting down for a meal has become part of the online advertising empire.” QR codes may be new to many American shoppers, but they have been popular internationally for years. Invented in 1994 to streamline car manufacturing at a Japanese company, QR codes became widely used in China in recent years after being integrated into the AliPay and WeChat Pay digital payment apps. In the United States, the technology was hampered by clumsy marketing, a lack of consumer understanding and the hassle of needing a special app to scan the codes, said Scott Stratten, who wrote the 2013 business book “QR Codes Kill Kittens” with his wife, Alison Stratten. That has changed for two reasons, Scott Stratten said. In 2017, he said, Apple made it possible for the cameras in iPhones to recognize QR codes, spreading the technology more widely. Then came the “pandemic, and it’s amazing what a pandemic can make us do,” he said. Half of all full-service restaurant operators in the United States have added QR code menus since the start of the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association. In May 2020, PayPal introduced QR code payments and has since added them at CVS, Nike, Foot Locker and around 1 million small businesses. Square, another digital payments firm, rolled out a QR code ordering system for restaurants and retailers in September. Cheqout and Mr. Yum, two startups that sell technology for creating QR code menus at restaurants, also said the codes had brought advantages to businesses. Restaurants that use QR code menus can save 30% to 50% on labor costs by reducing or eliminating the need for servers to take orders and collect payments, said Tom Sharon, a co-founder of Cheqout. Digital menus also make it easier to persuade people to spend more with offers to add fries or substitute more expensive spirits in a cocktail, with photographs of menu items to make them more appealing, said Kim Teo, a Mr. Yum co-founder. Orders placed through the QR code menu also let Mr. Yum inform restaurants what items are selling, so they can add a menu section with the most popular items or highlight dishes they want to sell. These increased digital abilities are what worry privacy experts. Mr. Yum, for instance, uses cookies in the digital menu to track a customer’s purchase history and gives restaurants access to that information, tied to the customer’s phone number and credit cards. It is piloting software in Australia so restaurants can offer people a “recommended to you” section based on their previous orders, Teo said. QR codes “are an important first step toward making your experience in physical space outside of your home feel just like being tracked by Google on your screen,” said Lucy Bernholz, director of Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab. Teo said that each restaurant’s customer data was available only to that establishment and that Mr. Yum did not use the information to reach out to customers. It also does not sell the data to any third-party brokers, she said. Cheqout collects only customers’ names, phone numbers and protected payment information, which it does not sell to third parties, Sharon said. On a recent blustery evening at Teeth, customers shared mixed reviews of the QR code ordering system from Cheqout, which the bar had installed in August. Some said it was convenient, but added that they would prefer a traditional menu at a fine dining establishment. “If you’re on a date and you’re whipping your phone out, it’s a distraction,” Daniela Sernich, 29, said. Jonathan Brooner-Contreras, 26, said that QR code ordering was convenient but that he feared the technology would put him out of his job as a bartender at a different bar in the neighborhood. “It’s like if a factory replaced all of its workers with robots,” he said. “People depend on those 40 hours.” Regardless of customers’ feelings, Bleiman said Cheqout’s data showed that about half of Teeth’s orders — and as much as 65% during televised sports games — were coming through the QR code system. “They may not like it,” he said in a text message. “But they’re doing it!”

QR codes are here to stay. So is the tracking they allow.

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Australian Signals Directorate report highlights new techniques, trends used by cybercriminals

China: Woman shocked by $60,000 bill at restaurant after posting her table QR code

QR codes are here to stay. So is the tracking they allow.

Don't fall prey to online scams on Paytm, WhatsApp and other popular apps