Australia

China suspected of cyber attack on Western Australia’s Parliament during state election | Andrew Greene/ABC

Western Australia’s parliamentary email network was hit by suspected Chinese hackers earlier this month as part of a massive global cyber-attack involving Microsoft software. The ABC has confirmed the online strike, which was detected on March 4 in the middle of the state election campaign, prompted intervention from Australia’s cyber security watchdog in Canberra. “Please be advised that the Parliament mail server has been hit with a cyber-attack,” WA politicians were warned at the time. “Consequently, the mail server will be down until further notice,” a text message sent by the Department of Parliamentary Services advised. An investigation by Western Australia’s Parliamentary Services Department has since concluded no sensitive data was stolen in the attack. “As soon as we became aware of the attack, we immediately disconnected the email server,” WA’s Executive Manager of Parliamentary Services Rob Hunter told the ABC.

Full Article: China suspected of cyber attack on Western Australia’s Parliament during state election – ABC News

Australia: Cyber attacks on elections growing amid concern for political parties | Anthony Galloway/Sydney Morning Herald

State actors are increasingly launching cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns to interfere in elections, as one Australian MP calls for political parties to be considered “critical infrastructure” so they can better fend off the attacks. New research says Russia is the most prolific state actor engaging in online interference against democratic elections, followed by China, which has significantly increased its cyber arsenal over the past two years, while Iran and North Korea are also offenders. All four countries have tried to interfere in the 2020 United States presidential election, using a combination of cyber attacks and online disinformation campaigns. Australian intelligence agencies found China was responsible for a cyber attack on Federal Parliament and its three main political parties last year, but kept the finding secret to avoid souring trade relations with Beijing. The Australian government also suspects China was probably behind a series of cyber raids this year on all levels of government, industry and critical infrastructure, including hospitals, local councils and state-owned utilities. New research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has identified 41 elections and seven referendums around the world between January 2010 and October 2020 where cyber-enabled foreign interference was identified, finding there has been a significant uptick over the past three years.

Full Article: Cyber attacks on elections growing amid concern for Australia’s political parties

Australia: Electoral Commission makes progress with 2018 modernisation project | Asha Barbaschow/ZDNet

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is heading a project to modernise its systems, having reached out to the market in 2018 for help on shaping the future of its IT backend. At the time, the AEC said the core software platforms in place had been in use for around 30 years, with its systems environment comprising of approximately 93 systems and supporting sub-systems. The commission has this week published a request for tender (RFT) for an enterprise architecture tool (EA tool), seeking help with the delivery of its modernisation project. The AEC normally operates out of 90 premises around Australia and has 780 staff. When an election is announced, that scales to more than 7,900 premises and approximately 90,000 staff. AEC offices are organised geographically, with a national office in Canberra, an office in each state, and divisional offices in or near each of the electoral divisions. The AEC currently has a small enterprise architecture practice team located within its Information and Communication Technology branch.