Telecommunications company Telstra has launched a pilot programme to block phishing texts spoofing Services Australia, according to ZDNet. Phishing messages purporting to be from myGov and Centrelink will be rejected by Telstra before they hit the phones of the telco’s customers. The company worked with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and Services Australia on the layer 3 blocking effort, and the programme has now completed its proof-of-concept stage, forecasting to be fully rolled out across its network by the end of the year. Telstra CEO Andy Penn said involving the ACSC allowed for information sharing between government and industry, and by sharing information there was a greater chance of mitigating malicious acts.
The war on phishing attacks is a constant game of cat and mouse, and this new initiative looks impressive enough to thwart a series of fraudulent communications. This also highlights the great work that can be driven by cooperation and collaboration between private companies and governments. So much can be achieved when working alongside one another to try and combat this type of cyber threat – and hopefully, this will be the start of more companionships in other regions and countries. However, threat actors are persistent in their nature and will no doubt attempt to forge a workaround in time. It is another step in the right direction, but we must continue to build resilience as we know cybercriminals are extremely determined in exploiting vulnerabilities wherever possible. Ultimately, vigilance remains the key to mitigating cyber threats.