‘State-backed’ hackers hit Australia govt, businesses
WIDESPREAD CAMPAIGN Analysts say suspicion on attackers linked to China
nNEWDELHI: Australia is being targeted by widespread cyberattacks originating from a “statebased” actor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, giving details of what some experts said indicate a clear link to China.
The attacks targeted the government, public services and private businesses, Morrison said at a press conference.
In more details released by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the cyber campaign - named ‘copy-paste compromises’ appeared to deploy hacking techniques available publicly and exploited known flaws in some specific products and protocols.
“This activity is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure,” Morrison said, according to news agency AFP.
“We know it is a sophisticated state-based cyber-actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting and the tradecraft used,” Morrison added.
While the Australian PM did not name any country, cyber security experts said the strongest suspicion fell on China.
“Many states have good cyber capabilities, but there are very few states that have the capability at the scale the Prime Minister talked about, affecting so many industries. The ones that possibly could at that scale: Russian, US, UK, China. I don’t see any motivation for the first three - they’ve either got a good relationship with us or have far higher priorities,” said Tom Uren, senior analyst at Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) International Cyber Policy Centre.
“Australia has been on China’s radar for years, and they have previously compromised all of the industries that the PM mentioned,” he said in an interview over email. The analyst added that the present attack appeared to be for stealing information instead of causing disruption or destruction.
The revelations in Australia come at a time when there have been concerns about cyber attacks from China targeting Indian digital infrastructure as a consequence of the escalation in hostilities between the two countries in Ladakh.
HT reported on Thursday intelligence inputs that some attacks from China-based actors had been launched on Indian networks such as payment and ATM networks.
“In a conflict, espionage for military advantage is a dead certainty, but I’m not sure that China would try to disrupt Indian operations with cyber capabilities unless the conflict really escalated,” Uren said. He added that an attack of the kind seen in Australia could impact several sectors with valuable information.
According to AFP, Australia’s public broadcaster ABC cited “senior sources” confirming that China was believed to be behind the attacks.
Australia has in recent weeks enraged China by calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and by accusing China of fuelling a virus “infodemic” and engaging in economic “coercion”.
He is thousands of miles away from home, and tends to keep his troubles to himself instead of adding anxieties to his family. For instance, when he accidentally hurt his left foot a few weeks ago while riding his rickshaw (despite the coronavirus-triggered lockdown), Rajinder didn’t utter a word about the “mild pain” to his wife, who lives in faraway Kolkata.
Anyways, he does not have easy means to reach out to her.
“I have no mobile,” he says, rolling up his expressive eyes. They look so full of life and motion that they could be a separate person altogether.
Rajinder is perched on the passenger seat of his rickshaw in a central Delhi market lane. He’s waiting for customers. It is still early in the morning.
In his late 40s, he is wearing a T-shirt and check shorts “that I bought before the lockdown.” He points out that he will get a new set of daily wear only after wearing out the present one.
The rickshaw puller has no fixed address in the city, though he has been living here for 17 years. He sleeps in a nearby Ren Basera, a shelter for the homeless. “Why spend money on room rent when I’m alone here,” he argues, taking out an orange mask tucked away within the secret crevices of his rickshaw’s roof. Tying it with a practised ease about his face, he explains that he came so far from his own city to better support his large family. “I have six daughters and no son, so I have to work doubly hard.” He admits Kolkata itself is a bustling metropolis with a variety of work options “but in Delhi you make more money... and you must remember I have six daughters.”
On request. Rajinder lists their names, and utters them out in a single breath as if chanting a mantra: “Pooja, Rupa, Tanu, Soni, Bipasha, Natasha.”
He mentions that his wife’s name is Champa Devi.
Rajinder now shows the hurt foot. For a better view, he places it on the rider’s padded seat and leisurely rubs his fingers over the heel. There are no scars. Every night at the the city you never see