SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Pav on Tuesday February 19 2019, @07:07AM (1 child)
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
All true.
Unfortunately, they still may win the election. I lost my faith in this country when they voted in Tony Abbott.