If you’ve been a victim of online crime, ringing the local cops isn’t always going to be the best path. The newly-launched Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) provides a central repository for reporting cybercrimes, and will be used to help identify broader trends.
Minister for Justice Michael Keenan launched the site, which has been built over the last year at a cost of $1.5 million, at the GovInnovate conference in Canberra today. “The ACORN is the key to developing a better understanding of the problem,” Keenan said. “We know that online crime can be organised on an industrial scale, but individual incidents are of a small nature. Subsequently, they often go unreported.” (Keenan also offered some interesting thoughts on file sharing.)
The site emphasises that if you’re in immediate danger, contacting the police remains the best option. But for an intrusion detected after the fact or an instance of fraud, ACORN will now be the main resource used by law enforcement groups to track trends.
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