16 September 2022
Cybersecurity risk warning
Consumer Protection WA has warned that a move to enable businesses and organisations to shorten Australian website addresses could be an opportunity for online scammers if website owners don’t take action to protect their domain name by 20 September.
The change means the .com, .net, .org etc. elements of a URL will no longer be required and .au alone will suffice. For example yourbusiness.com.au can become yourbusiness.au.
If existing businesses don’t register the yourbusiness.au option by 20 September 2022, these domain names become available for the public – and potential scammers.
Businesses and organisations don’t have to re-register their existing web address to the new .au extension, however not registering the .au only extension could put their online identity at risk.
You can view more information within our 90 second video.
auDA is the administrator of Australia's .au top domain name.