The $500 million ATO fraud highlights the flaws in the myGov ID system. How to ensure you’re not next

cyber security attack mygov id

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) paid out more than half a billion dollars to cyber criminals between July 2021 and February 2023, according to an ABC report.

Most of the payments were for small amounts (less than $5,000) and were not flagged by the ATO’s own monitoring systems.

The fraudsters exploited a weakness in the identification system used by the myGov online portal to redirect other people’s tax refunds to their own bank accounts.

The good news is there’s plenty the federal government can do to crack down on this kind of fraud – and that you can do to keep your own payments secure.

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