Cybersecurity incident: Hackers target Australian parliamentary computer network

Singapore universities cyber attack
Cyber attack (Representational picture) Pixabay

Australia's parliament said on Friday that they had to reset all the passwords on its computers, as they have noticed that an unknown attacker tried to hack the system. The officials stated that they started an investigation.

The legislature's presiding officers said in a statement that following the attempt of network breach on "the parliamentary computing network, a number of measures have been implemented to protect the network and its users."

Even though the officials have denied commenting on the nature of the cybersecurity violation, the statement added that "There is no evidence that any data has been accessed or taken at this time, however, this will remain subject to ongoing investigation."

In addition, the officials also said in the statement that "We have no evidence that this is an attempt to influence the outcome of parliamentary processes or to disrupt or influence electoral or political processes."

Australia's Labor Party leader Bill Shorten said on Friday that this cyber attack should be a 'wake up call,' for the country.

He also added that internet is great and it has its own advantages, but there are some anonymous people "in the cyber world who want to do Australians, and Australian business, and Australian security, harm."

However, all passwords of the parliamentary computers were reset and The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), which is responsible for cybersecurity including analysing, investigating and reporting cyber threats, is among those investigating.

Just a month ago, Germany politicians also faced a similar security threat as the hackers leaked massive data, including credit card details, phone numbers and email addresses.

Even American space agency, NASA faced the same threat in 2018, as reports claimed that personal information of some former and current employees of the agency were compromised in a hack that took place in October.

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