So, it seemed timely that one Rotary club in Bendigo put on a breakfast discussion among its members about their on-line security and how to manage it.

Bendigo Bank information security chap Jacob Kiel told the roomful of mainly err, mature aged folk of the many and complex ways to keep a step ahead of the nasty people who wanted to know everything about you.

They snapped to attention when they heard that much it was about fishing, sorry, phishing. The crooks send out electronic bait, including emails, on-line social media and phones to try to trick you into giving them access to all your information – or even money.

But it’s not just the phishermen we have to watch for. There are Vishers, SpearPhishers, Whalers, SMishers, Evil Twin Phishers, and some others with a collective annual haul in Australia probably well over $100 million a year.

Jacob explained how much this stolen data was traded for, mainly on the underbelly of the Internet, the Dark Net.

Credit card details could be sold for as little as $1 or as much as $100. Passwords can go for $1 or a bit more for some transactions. Drivers licences can be worth $20.

But, on average, the most valuable stolen data can be your medical records, worth about $470.

Among the advice Jacob passed on was the need to change passwords and not use the same password for all your computer stuff, your email, Facebook, eBay and bank accounts. Crooks might come across one of the passwords and then test to see if everything else uses the same code.

That sparked a bit of chatter about how many bloody passwords we have and how hard it is to remember them.

One suggested we resort to high-tech solutions, such as writing the passwords on a Post-It note and stick it on the side of the computer.

The trouble was, he was likely to forget where he put the Post-It note.