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posted by mrpg on Tuesday February 19 2019, @02:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the why-not-actress? dept.

Australian PM Scott Morrison says the country's major political parties and parliament were hit by a "malicious intrusion" on their computer networks.

The activity was carried out by a "sophisticated state actor", he said.

But he added there was "no evidence of any electoral interference". The nation will hold an election within months.

"During the course of this work, we also became aware that the networks of some political parties - Liberal, Labor and Nationals - have also been affected," he told the House of Representatives on Monday.

[...] The Australian government has faced a number of cyber-attacks in recent years, some of which have been attributed in local media to nations such as China.

In 2015 and 2016, there were high-profile attacks on the government's weather and statistics agencies. In 2011, senior Australian ministers also had their email systems breached.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:00AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:00AM (#803315)

    Like I'm gonna believe them.

    It should be the same agency should take care about the MyHealthRecords.
    They can't have it both ways: either the MyHealthRecords is secure as they pretend [myhealthrecord.gov.au] and thus the current hacking is a hoax (with a hidden agenda); or the hackers managed to get in the Parliament systems (and thus MyHeathRecotds is not secure either).

    Of course, there can be that no hacker was ever been even remotely interested and still an incident needed to be invented to cover a blunder, it wouldn't be a first [abc.net.au]

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:50AM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:50AM (#803333)

      Did some bureaucrat have a Wordpress installation up? Ah, just had to be the Rrrrussians, the sworn enemies of American imperialism^W^Wdemocracy.

      Do Australians feel better that colon cancer records have already been taken out of the incompetent government's hands and given to Telstra?

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by coolgopher on Tuesday February 19 2019, @05:49AM (3 children)

        by coolgopher (1157) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @05:49AM (#803372)

        Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if this was Russia having a play. It's in their playbook to meddle with elections, and if they can fob the blame off on China that'd be a double bonus.

        • (Score: 2, Touché) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 19 2019, @08:05AM (2 children)

          by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @08:05AM (#803402) Journal

          Yeah, and if you can fob the blame off on Russia, it's even better, huh? I mean, who's ever gonna believe the CIA or the Brits would dare do this shit?

          --
          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
          • (Score: 1, Troll) by coolgopher on Tuesday February 19 2019, @09:24AM

            by coolgopher (1157) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @09:24AM (#803410)

            I'd say it's more a matter of skill... >.>

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:20PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:20PM (#803444)

            No its not Russia. The gov got rid of 7 zip totally so it can't be the ruskies.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:17PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:17PM (#803442)

        I for one welcome Telstra as our new health systems overlord.
        They can't do a worse job than DHS and the Health department already have.
        Viv la revolution! Privatize the place to boost my paycheck!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @12:07PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @12:07PM (#803433)

      Election year. A political party who kicked an own goal when the Prime Minister was removed and then replaced by Rupert Murdoch's gang, people were never consulted.
      A political party who has parrotted the Yanks and the Poms lines for years. ("Raise the debt ceiling!") And once again, a word-for-word parroting of the line: "sophisticated state actor". Yet another unprovable "we wuz haxxored!". Just like the other 5 eyes countries.

      I call BS. I just can no longer believe western governments.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:00PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:00PM (#803473)

        A political party who has parrotted the Yanks and the Poms lines for years.

        Years?, speaking as a McPom, I were under the impression that most of your Aussie politicians have been in the USian's pockets/arses/whatever for decades , totally irrespective of whatever party flag your government happens to be flying (I don't follow your politics that closely though, it's hard enough keeping tabs on the machinations of our own pack of slimy, oily bastards without adding your lot to the constant watch list..).

        I don't know if your laws are still asinine enough to allow the Pomerlunders (at the behest of the USians) to pull the same stunt they did on Whitlam, I would hope you've changed them by now, if not, then you've only yourselves to blame for any undue influence that the slimy shower to the south of us exert over your lot.

        I call BS. I just can no longer believe western governments.

        s/western/all/

        (remind me again, which non-Aussie agency is it that has f.tons of SIGINT/COMINT/ELINT capabilities and installations on Australian soil, and who are tied into your comms networks, and who more than match the description 'sophisticated state actor'?)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:21PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:21PM (#803519)

          'I were..'
          fscking, fscking ipad...

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:59AM (13 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:59AM (#803335) Journal

    The Australian prime minister did not say which foreign state was under suspicion, adding he would not provide additional detail on "operational matters". The Australian government has faced a number of cyber-attacks in recent years, some of which have been attributed in local media to nations such as China. Fergus Hanson, cyber security expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, put China "at the top" of the list of suspects but said he "wouldn't rule out" Russia also being responsible. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the accusations were "groundless" and "made up out of thin air with ulterior motives". He urged media organisations to "stop the words and actions" that can harm "China's bilateral relations with relevant countries".

    My theory is that it probably is happening because their security is crap. There are much better targets out there, such as universities, tech companies, or defense contractors. Australian political parties are what you go after when you get bored. And maybe they do have some valuable info in docs and emails.

    Is it going to affect an election outcome? We'll see.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:54AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:54AM (#803349)

      There's some dodgy shit going on here with chinese money. Rich chinese are illegally (by chinese law) smuggling money out of China and buying properties here. China is hiring PI's to track them down, they then go to court to seize the properties and claim the money back.
      There are conflicting behaviours all over the place, some people like that they are driving up prices, some don't like it, everyone from real estate agents to the PI's are getting commissions, politicians don't like the mess but do like the bribes, the courts don't like wasting time getting involved in what is essentially some other country's tax problems.
      I can certainly see the chinese gov trying to get some material to apply pressure in their favour.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 19 2019, @05:14AM (2 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday February 19 2019, @05:14AM (#803357) Journal

        Bull up and get a piece of that action.

        If Australia does end up as China's vassal state, join the resistance. Lace the cane toads or something.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:14PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:14PM (#803441)

          At least then we will be able to buy land in China.
          Won't happen though. The Indians are doing their best to crowd in and populate up. As are the muzzies. NZ offloaded a bunch for a while but we dumped quite a few back over there so we're even stevens. Several countries are hungrily eyeing Australia as a prize just waiting for the soft belly to show.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:40PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:40PM (#803527)

          If Australia does end up as China's vassal state...

          ...then it has only itself to blame, your rot started back in the 60's/70's when you ended the 'ten pound pom' scheme and the 'white Australia policy', of course, real Australians place the real start date of when the rot set in to the year 1788...

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @05:38AM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @05:38AM (#803368)

      Like anyone cares who runs ausstralia.

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by takyon on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:02AM (5 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:02AM (#803376) Journal

        Please be respectful. We have several fine, upstanding Australian citizens in this community. As well as c0lo.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:57AM (1 child)

          by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:57AM (#803385) Journal

          Is he not fine, or other than upstanding?

          --
          "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @09:21AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @09:21AM (#803408)

            He might be unable to see beyond the wog. Some people are differently-abled like this.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:10PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:10PM (#803440)

          Probably pommies.
          Do we have decent aussies anymore? Or do we need to ship in some more criminals and wait another century?

        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:55PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:55PM (#803533)

          Please be respectful. We have several fine, upstanding Australian citizens in this community ...

          Name 17.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday February 19 2019, @11:39AM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @11:39AM (#803427) Homepage Journal

        Adolf Hitler came from there. And ended up running most of Europe.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @10:26AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @10:26AM (#803418)

      There are much better targets out there

      Not if the hackers are state sponsored and want personal leverage against politicians who may not be as cooperative as the hacking country likes.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:53AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @04:53AM (#803348)

    Don't forget, Julian Assange is an Aussie.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Pav on Tuesday February 19 2019, @07:07AM (1 child)

    by Pav (114) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @07:07AM (#803387)

    Unsure about the story itself, but there is an election coming up soon which the conservatives currently in power are expected to lose BADLY. A Royal Commission found the "Big Four" banks stole billions from customers, and the conservative government are giving out wrist slaps. The conservatives have also doubled the government debt after their austerity program failed as badly as many economist predicted. The conservatives also downgraded the "last mile" of the National Broadband Network (NBN) from fibre to copper, presumably to protect Rupert Murdochs cable investments. It certainly wasn't to cut costs which was the explanation we were given - costs INCREASED not only for the initial cost but also upkeep, and made the NBN a worldwide laughing stock. The conservatives also oversold Murray Darling water to cotton farmers, which has stagnated and killed these rivers over vast areas and poluted water suppies of towns and cities such as Adeliade (South Australias capital, which already had the worst water in Australia). Basically the conservatives need some electorally effective xenophobia and fast!

    It worked before... John Howard previously turned around an election with the "Children Overboard" affair... basically a lie about "callous immigrants" on boats throwing their kids overboard so the navy was forced to take them. Debunked since, but it won him an election. He went on to almost cause a recession during a mining boom(!), and only escaped this by stimulating a bubble in housing which has since caused a private debt crisis which will most probably put Australia into recession within the next three years.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:59PM (#803606)

      All true.

      Unfortunately, they still may win the election. I lost my faith in this country when they voted in Tony Abbott.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @08:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @08:00PM (#803638)

    When I grow up I want to be a State Actor!

  • (Score: 1) by evilcam on Wednesday February 20 2019, @02:54AM

    by evilcam (3239) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 20 2019, @02:54AM (#803825)
    Pretty sure it was IBM being bad [abc.net.au] at [huffingtonpost.com.au] their [computerworld.com.au] job [abc.net.au].
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