The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Australia target of hack
● China suspected of ‘sophisticated’ cyber attacks amid dispute
A“sophisticated statebased cyber actor” is targeting Australia in an escalating campaign threatening all levels of government, businesses, essential services and critical infrastructure, the prime minister has said.
Scott Morrison would not name the state but there was speculation that the cyber attacks were part of Australia’s increasingly hostile rift with China.
He said he had made the growing threat public to raise awareness and particularly wanted organisations involved in health, critical infrastructure and essential services to bolster technical defences.
A range of sectors are being targeted and the frequency of cyber intrusions to steal and cause harm has increased for months, he said.
“These are the actions of a state-based actor with significant capabilities. There aren’t too many state-based actors who have those capabilities,” Mr Morrison said.
Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think-tank, said only China had the capability and interest in launching such a massive cyber offensive against Australia.
“I’m absolutely certain that China is behind it,” he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian dismissed the allegations, saying Beijing has “been opposing and combating all types of cyber attacks”.
The claims are “totally baseless nonsense”, he told reporters.
China in recent weeks has banned beef exports from Australia’s largest abattoirs, ended trade in Australian barley with a tariff wall and warned its citizens against visiting Australia.
The measures are widely interpreted as punishment for Australia’s advocacy of an independent probe into the origins and spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Australia’s foreign minister this week accused China of using anxiety around the pandemic to undermine Western democracies by spreading disinformation online, prompting Beijing to accuse Australia of disinformation.
Mr Morrison said he could not control speculation about who was responsible for the cyber campaign.
Australian investigations have not uncovered any “largescale personal data breaches”, Mr Morrison said, adding that many of the intrusions have been thwarted.