Medibank failed to implement the following specific security measures: ​ Multi-factor authentication for its Virtual Private Network (VPN): Medibank did not require two or more ways of proving a user’s identity for accessing its VPN. ​ This means that the hackers only needed someone’s username and password to gain access to Medibank’s corporate network. ​ ...

A shared equity program designed to help aspiring first home buyers enter a prohibitive housing market will be cut off in a year. It was in and now its out Dumping rubbish will cost Victorians an extra half a billion dollars over three years under an increase to the state’s waste levy. This levy (TAX)...

From 3 August 2024, all new Victorian certificates of title from the Register of Land will be electronic. Existing paper certificates of title will remain valid until they are next required for a conveyancing transaction.  

Law firms and their clients are ripe targets for cybercrime. This time it is the turn of Minter Ellison who I guess forgot the cardinal rule of ringing the client to confirm bank details before transferring funds. Ringing the client or the client ringing the firm to verify bank account details for any first transaction...

Email accounts of law firms and conveyancing companies continue to be compromised, providing a path for sophisticated crims with local conveyancing knowledge to impersonate the conveyancer and dupe the client into redirecting settlement funds to the hacker’s account. Then the funds, your funds, are lost for all time. How does it happen and how do...

Definition Economic irrationalism refers to the departure from rational decision-making in economic behaviour. While classical economic theory assumes that individuals are rational, real-world evidence shows that people often make decisions that do not maximize utility and can lead to market failure and personal issues such as addiction and poor health Case in point. Two neighbours...

Death – this one is inevitable and unavoidable. Just don’t let this happen to you Divorce – unfortunately true for many Debt – high(er) interest rates – 13 interest rate hikes Downsizing – baby boomers will increasingly sell up, cash in and downsize their family homes; and DAN Andrews legacy, our ex-premier of Victoria: Covid...

Report #1 – 380,000 Victoria property owners will get their very first land tax bill for $500+. This and increases on existing land tax rates of 0.1% will lift and raise every other land tax assessment. Excuse: pay for the COVID debt. I am guessing this includes the Debt for the Big Build but this...

Two research findings on home ownership or lack of it The first: more than two in five first-time buyers need to tap into the bank of mum and dad. The second: renters who don’t buy by their early 30s are less likely to achieve homeownership later in life than their parents’ generation. The first is...

The word “solicitor” has an interesting etymology. It comes from the Latin word “solicitare,” which is a combination of “solus” (meaning “alone”) and “citare” (meaning “to summon” or “to call”). In medieval Latin, “solicitare” evolved to refer to someone who was appointed to manage legal matters on behalf of another person, essentially acting on their...