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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:10AM   Printer-friendly
from the See...-it-WAS-aliens! dept.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-41590614

Sensitive information about Australia's defence programmes has been stolen in an "extensive" cyber hack.

About 30GB of data was compromised in the hack on a government contractor, including details about new fighter planes and navy vessels. The data was commercially sensitive but not classified, the government said. It did not know if a state was involved.

Australian cyber security officials dubbed the mystery hacker "Alf", after a character on TV soap Home and Away.

The breach began in July last year, but the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) was not alerted until November. The hacker's identity is not known. "It could be one of a number of different actors," Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Thursday. "It could be a state actor, [or] a non-state actor. It could be someone who was working for another company." Mr Pyne said he had been assured the theft was not a risk to national security.


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:42AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:42AM (#583406)

    No Problemo

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:49AM (3 children)

      by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:49AM (#583408) Journal

      That was my first thought too: "Hacker demands return of 2 million kittens for return of encrypted data."

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @01:04PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @01:04PM (#583438)

        Maybe is an inside job to shame directors for buying such a controversial and overpriced fighter like the F-35. A transitive way of putting pressure and make the decision less likely.

      • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:07PM (1 child)

        by looorg (578) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:07PM (#583462)

        Does "he" represent the Melmac Intergalactic Liberation Front?

        • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:40PM

          by Pino P (4721) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:40PM (#583560) Journal

          What's next? We find his real name is Gordon Shumway [wikia.com]?

          Incidentally, when Mozilla was trying to clone Flash Player, the project was codenamed Shumway [github.io], presumably a pun on "Flash Gordon".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:10PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:10PM (#583464)

      "Don't come the raw prawn with me."

      --
      Alf Stewart (fictional character, Australian soap opera)

  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by VLM on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:00PM (1 child)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:00PM (#583412)

    The data was commercially sensitive but not classified

    Mr Pyne said he had been assured the theft was not a risk to national security.

    Its billing / bribe / corruption evidence. Someone fucking his secretary and dumped her and she took proof he was banging coworkers. She's not attractive hence the name "Alf"

    When you cross out all the cyberbullshit its quite a different story.

    • (Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:40PM

      by BsAtHome (889) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:40PM (#583429)

      Inclined to the statement: Pics,... or it didn't happen.

      Not sure if I'd like to see the secretary/coworkers in graphic display though. But then again, it probably can't be worse that farcebook posts.

      Sometimes I long for the times before computers. Then we could all blame the typewriter and the postal office.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:17PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @12:17PM (#583419)

    It must be the Russians. Just ask Hillary.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @09:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @09:54PM (#583687)

      I think at this point it is pretty clear Trump is the goto guy for all things Russian.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @03:38PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @03:38PM (#583500)

    Who would care enough about Australian military to hack it?

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:11PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:11PM (#583546) Journal

      China, out of pity.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:40PM (3 children)

      by looorg (578) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:40PM (#583561)

      Considering they claim it was just sensitive business data and nothing secret, data about air crafts and ships, China probably rises to the top of the list again. If it was just Australia then probably just China. But since Australia is a Five-Eyes partner the list of potential suspects probably just grew to include almost everyone.

      • (Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Tuesday October 17 2017, @09:04PM (2 children)

        by gawdonblue (412) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @09:04PM (#583661)

        China is certainly one of the favourites, but it also is very likely to have been industrial espionage from one of the five eyes partners on behalf of their companies. The USA has a very long history of spying on their partners for commercial gain, while the UK isn't exactly unknown to do it either.

        I just hope Christopher Pyne can fix it.

        • (Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday October 17 2017, @10:12PM

          by arslan (3462) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @10:12PM (#583692)

          Nah I doubt it. Given this is not sensitive data and China's got a deep hand in our economy (read politicians) here, they can probably get these kind of data easily without much hassle. If I were to guess a state actor, assuming it is a state actor, probably North Korea given we're pretty much the American's sock puppet as well on the military front, yea we've taking it in on all sides - pretty sad.

        • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday October 18 2017, @04:06AM

          by coolgopher (1157) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @04:06AM (#583799)

          Of course he can! He's a fixer! He's already fixed it! He just wants it to be a surprise for you. Because, you know, he's a fixer; he's fixed it!

          (for those not in the know, youtube "Pyne fixer" for a truly cringe-worthy interview)

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @04:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @04:26PM (#583523)

    I wouldn't be telling the world that I was bested by a sock-puppet. Just stop.

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