The state government has faced a massive onslaught of computer network attacks since the last election, with tens of millions of attempted intrusions and successful hacks on the Premier’s department, Main Roads, the finance and local government departments. In answers to parliamentary questions asked by opposition frontbencher Zak Kirkup, the government also revealed it had been subject to attacks on its information systems by “nation-state foreign actors”. The Department of Finance, which also provides information security for the Department of Treasury, bore the brunt of the attacks, recording 15.5 million intrusion attempts on its networks and website. Of these, 11 attacks were successful, but Treasurer Ben Wyatt said there had been “no indication that any Cabinet or customer-related material was compromised”.
The Department of Transport, Horizon Power and the Fremantle Ports Authority all revealed they had been attacked by nation-state foreign actors.
Department of Education said it was under frequent attack from external sources and had identified 20,048 “potential malware events”.
“Since March 2018, the department has experienced an ongoing series of brute force credential attacks targeting email accounts within the department’s corporate email service,” said Paul Papalia, who represents Education Minister Sue Ellery in parliament’s lower house.
Full Article: State government hacked in massive computer network attacks.