Aus Parliament, political parties hacked by sophisticated state actor: Govt

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said a “sophisticated state actor” was behind a cyber attack on the Australian Parliament’s computing network earlier this month and the “malicious intrusion” also hit the networks of some political parties.

Morrison’s comments follow an investigation into the hacking attempt, which was first thought to involve only the Parliament’s servers.

“'During the course of this work, we also became aware that the networks of some political parties — Liberal, Labour and the Nationals — have also been affected,” he said.

Morrison said there was “no evidence of any electoral interference”. Australia is expected to hold elections in mid-May, raising concerns that hackers could be trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

“Our security agencies have detected this activity and acted decisively to confront it. They are securing these systems and protecting users,” he told Parliamentarians. He said the cyber experts believed a sophisticated state actor was responsible for the “malicious activity”. Morrison , however, did not name any country.

The Parliament hack on February 8 had forced MPs and staff members to reset their computer passwords as a precaution.