Internet fraud and the potential theft of identity have been increasing at an alarming rate. At the same time, the sophistication of this activity has been on the rise and there is an increase in the use of malicious software that is installed surreptitiously on personal computers to monitor individuals' private, commercial and financial identities. Now Government, academic and commercial collaboration will lead the next generation of security solutions.

UB, in collaboration with the Victorian State Government, Westpac Banking Corporation, and IBM Australia have agreed to join forces to forge a globally significant research alliance to tackle cybercrime. The alliance will fund and operate the Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL) to identity best practice processes and develop leading edge internet security solutions with the aim of staying one step ahead of the cybercrime associated with internet commerce. The projected budget for the ICSL in its first five years of operation is approximately $4 million.

The Laboratory will produce within Victoria an ongoing capability to tackle the problems of Internet fraud, Internet security and identity management. It will establish a reputation in providing cutting edge solutions in these areas.

On Wednesday 14 May 2008 the ICSL facility which is located within UB's Technology Park will be officially opened by the Hon. Theophanous. The Laboratory will focus on solving practical Internet commerce security problems that impact on Australian businesses and consumers. It will pursue the following priority areas: Phishing; Threat profiling; Forensic imaging; Public key infrastructure improvement; Malwear profiling; Fraud detection systems; Identity theft advisory; Recovery services; and End-user communication and awareness.

The establishment of the ICSL will create a unique and exciting venture, which will have practical benefits for all Australians by:

Senator Stephen Conroy was in Ballarat on Friday 12th October to discuss broadband and other ICT issues relating to regional areas.

Senator Conroy began his visit at the Ballarat Town Hall where he met with Professor David Battersby, Vice Chancellor University of Ballarat and Darren Holland Vice President, Student & Learning Support University of Ballarat.

Senator Conroy then addressed the Central Highlands Mayor & CEO forum which was also at the Town Hall. This gave Mayor's and CEO's from across the region a chance to voice their opinions and questions regarding the current broadband situation and plans and policies for the future.

The Senator then moved on to University of Ballarat Technology Park at Greenhill Enterprise Centre where a round table discussion was held. This was extremely successful with more than 27 people from industry, Government and local business attending to discuss current issues, trends and policies within the ICT sector.

The Ballarat ICT Cluster was profiled at the Economic Development Australia Industry Clusters: Engines of Regional Economic Growth & Development? Conference in Geelong on 7 September 2007.

Helen Thompson, Project Manager for Ballarat ICT Cluster Consultancy, was subsequently invited to speak at the 7 April 2008 meeting of the Geelong Region ICT Cluster Steering Committee on the Ballarat ICT experience so far. Helen provided the Committee with an overview of what the Ballarat ICT Cluster has achieved so far and what it hopes to achieve in the future.

The Geelong Region ICT Cluster Steering Committee consists of City of Greater Geelong, Deakin University, Express Promotions, Fox Digital Web, Geelong Region Alliance, Gordon Institute of TAFE, Neighbourhood Cable, Radiant Systems, and Surfcoast Shire.

Plans for the Geelong Region ICT Cluster to visit Ballarat on 1 December 2008 are being progressed as an outcome of the April meeting. Other Regional ICT Clusters and representatives of specialist clusters are likely to be invited to join Ballarat and Geelong representatives at this event.

In response to an initial enquiry from Bill Mundy from Telstra Countrywide and as a result of facilitation and support provided by the Ballarat ICT Cluster Project Team, the University of Ballarat, together with KIDS Foundation and an industry collaborator recently submitted an application for research project which if successful will be valued at more than $1 million with approximately $600,000 contributed by the Telstra Foundation over a three-year period.

The Voices of Children: Developing Community Solutions to Cyber-Safety Issues in Regional Australia aims to protect regional children by researching and implementing innovative child-centred cyber-safe strategies in partnership with schools, their communities and interest groups.

The primary concerns to be addressed in this project are that children (9-15 years old) are being subjected to inappropriate content and harmful situations such as online predatory behaviour and online bullying which is beyond the control of their parents and teachers.

Whilst ICT has brought undeniable advantages to regional communities, the technology also enables a range of behaviours which pose risks to children and young people. This is of concern to parents, teachers and other community stakeholders.

These concerns emerge from the freedom children experience through their understanding of ICT, and their easy access to these forms of communication technologies, which place them in the position of being independent experts compared to many parents and teachers. With this independence, children have created for themselves a digital culture which defines where and how they use the media, unlike other forms of behaviour which are more closely monitored by adults.

The focus of this project is on 9-15 year olds in the Western Region of Victoria. The issue of cyber safety is not peculiar to this region, however, most existing research reports on urban communities: this project redresses that omission. It aims to reduce harmful impact of cyberspace on children in Western Victoria through children-centric approaches to cyber-safety and behavioural change.

Industry representatives, researchers and members of the Ballarat ICT Cluster had the opportunity to interact with the Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr during his visit to the University of Ballarat and Technology Park on 11 April 2008. During his visit the Senator launched the University of Ballarat Research Report titled Explore Discover Apply.

ICT and cluster member activities profiled in this report include:

The December 2007 leadership meeting of the International Taskforce for Women & ICT in Kuala Lumpur (www.umbc.edu/cwit/international_taskforce.html) endorsed the establishment of Global Women & Technology Centre of Excellences at universities in eight to ten regions across the world. Modelled on the US Centre for Women and ICT, the purpose of the initiative is to coordinate and facilitate global exchange of research, resource development, benchmarks and next practice.

Dr Patrice Braun, Deputy Director of CRIC has been appointed by the ITF as the regional coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Global Women & Technology Centre of Excellence. The Centre will be the Australasian link in the global network, working at the local level to promote the advancement of women through access, use, development, design and leadership in all aspects of ICT.

The main foci of the AP Centre will be on Workforce and Skills Shortages, in particular in the IT industry; Entrepreneurship and Women's full participation in the Digital Economy; Women and Education; and Women and Leadership with the overarching aim to encourage ICT-enabled progress for women in the knowledge economy through discovery, innovation, facilitation and knowledge transfer.

Specific objectives include:

Centre stakeholders are expected to derive robust, practical benefit with access to research, resources, and business directives on the attraction, retention and career progression of women as a considerable portion of their workforce and target market.

On Wednesday 14 May 2008 the SECIA Conference and Workshop on Innovations in eSecurity will be held between in Ballarat at the Global Innovation Centre. SECIA is a collaborative cluster that aims to nurture and promote the awareness and use of innovative eSecurity and security technologies.

SECIA brings together local representatives from consumer, vendor and educational organisations to engage with Melbourne-based and leading-edge researchers about the benefits of adopting eSecurity technologies. For more information visit www.secia.org

Scheduled as part of Ballarat 2008 Innovation Festival, the Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) forum titled Have a Voice in the Development of National Telecommunications will be held between 10 am and 2.00 pm on 19 May 2008 at Oscar's Hotel & Cafe Bar.

Telecommunications providers, small businesses and consumers will join ISOC-AU representatives to discuss issues related to broadband. What's available now? Who is benefiting, who is not and why? What about future delivery platforms? Will it be fibre throughout in the short, medium or long term? What are the alternatives?

The Internet Society of Australia is supported by the Australian Government through the Consumer Representation Grants program of the Department of Broadcasting, Communications and the Digital Economy in convening this forum.

The Deakin Lecture Series 2008 has chosen Ballarat as the location for the 2008 launch. Originally devised as a cornerstone for the celebrations of the Centenary of Federation in Australia in May 2001, the Lectures are named in honour of Alfred Deakin, a visionary figure in the founding of Australian nationhood and Australia's second Prime Minister.

The Ballarat launch event for the Deakin Lecture Series 2008 will be held on 4 June 2008. Proposed activities include an afternoon Business Seminar (50-60 people); Cocktail reception (approx 30 people) and a public session in the evening (400-500 people) commencing at 6.30 pm. The Draft Program details include:

During June 2008, John Davies will visit Ballarat. John is Programme Director of iT4Community which is the United Kingdom's leading national information technology volunteering programme (www.it4communities.org.uk). The main areas of activity for iT4C include helping charities and community/voluntary groups to find volunteers to help with their IT needs; helping IT professionals to find suitable IT volunteering opportunities and providing support for volunteering projects from project definition to project completion. This visit is being coordinated in partnership with the Monash University Centre for Community Networking Research (http://www.ccnr.net).

The Australian Conference on Knowledge Management and Intelligent Decision Support (www.ackmids.com.au) has been organised by the Knowledge Management Research Program (KMRP) since 1998. In 2008, ACKMIDS will be jointly organised by the Centre for Community Networking Research (Monash University) and the University of Ballarat (through the Centre for eCommerce and Communications, Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness and Centre for Informatics and Applied Optimization).

This year the conference theme is: "Harnessing Knowledge Management to Build Communities" ACKMIDS 08 will explore the issues emerging from the type of beneficial collaboration that can be derived from the exploitation of ICTs and knowledge management jointly. It will energise community managers, policy makers at all levels of government, and researchers with their current thinking about practice of KM and community informatics. Ballarat ICT Cluster members will have the opportunity to participate in this event which will be held between 8 and 10 December 2008.