The NSW Government has launched a new Password Strength Tester to help people choose stronger passwords and better protect their personal information online, including email, banking and social media accounts.

The online tool can also test how long it would take for a hacker to crack the password using a computer bot and provides a rating based on the strength of the password.

“More and more of our life is becoming online and it’s incredibly important that everyone stays safe online,” Member for Campbelltown Greg Warren said.

“This is a simple and safe tool that everyone can use to quickly test the integrity of their passwords.”

A hacker can break a password in just two seconds if it is seven characters long and doesn’t use any numbers or special characters, but a password which is 18 characters long and uses a mix of numbers, symbols and upper and lower-case letters would take 438 trillion years to break.

The Password Strength Tester is completely anonymous, and the NSW Government will never collect, track, store, or send passwords anywhere, so they cannot be linked to a person’s usernames, accounts or websites.

“Passwords are often the first line of defence against cybercriminals, so it is important they are strong and keep your online accounts secure,” Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Jihad Dib said.

“Taking a bit of time now to check how strong your password is can save a lot of time, money and heartache down the road.”

The Password Strength Tester is available at www.nsw.gov.au/id-support-nsw/passwords.

NSW workers’ compensation system mandated to be more caring, responsible and affordable

The NSW Government has charted the future course for icare to better protect 3.4 million workers in NSW, with the passage of the State Insurance and Care Governance Amendment (ICNSW Governance) Bill 2023.

icare is now legally required to be transparent, promote early treatment and care for injury and illness and to maintain the affordability of premiums.

Treasury will also be empowered to access information to further support icare’s continuous improvement in accountability and transparency.

“These changes are essential to allow icare to deliver the best and most affordable service for those who need it,” Member for Campbelltown Greg Warren said.

“icare has suffered a significant erosion of trust with the public and the transparency that is being introduced will aim to restore the trust of workers.”

icare provides workers’ compensation for about 330,000 business and 3.4 million workers in New South Wales, managing about 60,000 new claims each year.

Since its creation under the former NSW Government icare has operated without objectives set out in legislation. This flaw was highlighted in the 2021 McDougall Review which made recommendations the NSW Government is delivering on.

The objectives introduced to the State Insurance and Care Governance (SICG) Act 2015 include:

  • icare must maintain the affordability of insurance as well as the efficiency and viability of all the schemes it administers.
  • icare should focus on providing access to treatment and care that helps injured persons get back to work and other activities in the community.
  • icare should promote efficiency, transparency and accountability in the conduct of its operations.

“These changes put workers’ compensation at the forefront of icare’s objectives, giving the agency a mandate to deliver the best services and affordable insurance to those who need it,” said Minister for Industrial Relations and Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis.