Australians are a bunch of drongos when it comes to IT security, according to a top Aussie copper.

Commander Neil Gaughan has told a parliamentary committee that awareness of cyber crime is severely lacking across the country. He said that fewer than half of all home computer users protect their systems from viruses, cyber crime and other hacking.

Those who have the software don't bother updating it so it is more useless than a chocolate beer keg on Ayers' rock, he said. He added that technology crime was causing more trouble for Aussie coppers, we guess some of them don't know how to turn one on.

Cmdr Gaughan mentioned the growing trend of hacking into social networking websites, such as Facebook, where hackers are now stealing identities and money. He said that education was the key and the end user is actually the weakest link.