A South West Men’s Shed has secured a major grant to host national events focusing on cyber security

A South West Men’s Shed has secured a major grant to host a national event focusing on cyber security.

The Brunswick Men’s Shed secured a grant from the Department of Home Affairs to deliver a new program to increase awareness of online safety.

The group is in the early stages of bringing the program to life, working with experts to bring the important message to the entire community.

Shed secretary Kate Bufton said the program would look at raising awareness of a range of virtual scams, covering crypto currency, phishing and deep fake artificial intelligence.

“There’s so much people need to be aware of now, cyber security is more than just having anti-virus and a firewall,” she said.

“While we are a Men’s Shed, we are not aiming at just talking to Men’s Shed (members), we’ll be looking at getting this message across to grandparents, parents, school teachers, local businesses, people of all ages because the demographic is huge.”

The funding would see the shed collaborating with Men’s Shed WA, The Australian Men’s Shed Association and the Shire of Harvey to deliver a series of free programs and workshops for the community.

Mrs Bufton said the event would take place first in Brunswick and likely travel to Harvey and Australind.

It would also be broadcast on an Australian Men’s Shed’s podcast with video features.

“There will be a big thing happening in Australind, where we will have presenters coming down, and there’ll be a special guest coming over from the Eastern States to discuss all of this stuff in person,” Ms Bufton said.

The Shire of Harvey will be helping by organising the events, booking venues and doing promotional work.

A shire spokesperson said cyber security was a pressing issue across Australia and ensuring people had the tools and knowledge needed to navigate technology was incredibly important.

“Our community includes vulnerable populations that may especially benefit from the work the Brunswick Junction Men’s Shed is doing in this space,” the spokesperson said.

“We are so very fortunate to have groups like the Men’s Shed that are passionate and proactive about organising events for our community.”