Australia probing cyberattacks against parliament, TV channel

Sydney, Australia, Mar 29 (efe-epa).- The Australian government was Monday investigating cyberattacks that disrupted a TV channel’s live broadcasts and parliament’s IT and email system over the weekend.

Parliament authorities cut access to its IT network after the alleged attack on the legislature Saturday evening, Assistant Defense Minister Andrew Hastie told the News.com.au website Sunday night.

“The Australian Cyber Security Centre has been in contact with the (Department of Parliamentary Services) DPS and is providing support and continuing to monitor the situation,” Hastie said.

“The government acted quickly, and we have the best minds in the world working to ensure Australia remains the most secure place to operate online.”

A cyberattack also hit Nine Network TV channel Sunday, disrupting its live broadcasts.

It is considered the biggest cyber attack on a media company in the history of the country.

Fergus Hanson of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told Nine Network Monday that the use of ransomware against the TV network and parliament without a ransom demand pointed to a government behind the incident.

“If you did get asked to pay a ransom, it might be a ransomware attack, in which case you would be looking at a cyber criminal … If you didn’t get asked to pay a ransom, you may be looking at other actors, including state actors,” the tech expert said.

Australia approved laws against interference and foreign espionage in 2018.

Since then, it has been investigating several cyberattacks against state agencies and universities that have been attributed to Beijing, which denies its involvement. EFE-EPA

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