AUSSIE PARTIES, PARLIAMENT HACKED

China or Russia could have done it, says expert

AUSTRALIA yesterday said a “sophisticated state actor” had hacked the country’s main political parties and Parliament, just weeks before a closely fought election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told lawmakers that investigators looking into the hacking of Parliament computer systems revealed two weeks ago “also became aware that the networks of some political parties” had been breached.

“Our cyber experts believe that a sophisticated state actor is responsible for this malicious activity,” he said.

Security agencies said they did not know who was behind the attack or their motives.

It is not yet clear what, if any, material was stolen during the hacks, how long the perpetrators went undetected, or whether it could open some political figures up for blackmail.

Earlier, Australia reported a “security incident on the parliamentary computing network”.

That forced users, including the prime minister and the cabinet, to change passwords and take other security measures.

Experts warn that attribution is time-consuming and difficult.

“I think it’s definitely too early to say,” said Fergus Hanson, a cybersecurity expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

He added that there were only “one or two actors” capable of carrying out such an attack.

Hanson said he would put China “at the top” of the list of possible suspects, but “wouldn’t rule out” Russia’s involvement.

Relations have recently been frayed over Australia’s decision to ban Huawei from the country’s 5G network amid national security concerns and the expulsion of Huang Xian, a connected billionaire who doled out millions in Australian political donations.

Australians are expected to go to the polls mid-May, raising the spectre that hackers could be trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

Both Russia and China have used cyber operations in a bid to influence democratic votes.

Beijing’s spies were accused of targeting Taiwanese officials before the election there last year.

Dozens of Russians have been indicted for trying to tilt the 2016 United States presidential election, and alleged Russian involvement in Britain’s referendum on leaving the European Union has been well documented.

As part of the Five Eyes intelligence network, which also includes Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US, Australia is a rich target for foreign interests.

“Our political institutions represent high-value targets. But we have resilient systems to detect compromises and re-mediate them,” said Alastair MacGibbon, head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

MacGibbon said the hackers were sophisticated enough to get into the network, but “not sophisticated enough to remain undetected”.