CBuddy

When in a cyber attack people dont respond to it either due to lack of info or panic. We help you get through it step by step and also check your exposure online

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Inspiration

We have experienced identity theft and scams firsthand, which made us realize how difficult and confusing it can be for everyday users — especially the elderly — to respond to cyber threats. This inspired us to build something that could act as a personal incident response assistant.

What it does

CBuddy helps users (currently focused on Australia) by acting as a personal cyber incident response buddy. It supports individuals during phishing attacks, data breaches, and scam attempts by offering AI-powered guidance, breach checks, and direct links to local authorities like Scamwatch and IDCare.

How we built it

We built it using Bolt for the frontend and deployed backend functions using Netlify. For phishing detection, we integrated an AI model that works in-browser with transformers.js. We used onnx-community/phishing-email-detection-distilbert_v2.4.1-ONNX, which we converted ourselves from the original Hugging Face model cybersectony/phishing-email-detection-distilbert_v2.4.1 to make it compatible with client-side execution.

Challenges we ran into

Finding APIs that are free, reliable, and offer quality data.

Gathering all the necessary incident response information and mapping it to local resources.

Designing a user-friendly flow for different age groups, including elderly users.

Identifying a phishing detection model that works with transformers.js in the browser.

Converting the phishing model to ONNX format for in-browser usage without needing a backend.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built an app that is intentionally designed to support elderly users with simple language and actionable guidance.

Successfully integrated client-side phishing detection without relying on server compute.

Provided a working incident response framework for individuals — not just enterprises.

What we learned

Learned the importance of having a personal incident response plan for cyberattacks.

Realized that most cyber safety tools are enterprise-focused, while individuals are often left vulnerable.

Validated that simplicity works — users appreciate clear, empathetic design over technical jargon.

What's next for CBuddy

Integrate live AI assistance during active scam calls or phishing attempts through a ChatLive module.

Add a premium option for detailed incident reports and live monitoring.

Expand support for global users by integrating localized resources for other regions.

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