Information Security in Australia

2023: One of Australia's largest taxi calling services shut down due to cyber attack

In early February 2023, the digital travel booking service Australia at Black and White Cabs was forced to stop working after cyber attacks intruders, leaving passengers with disabilities and children temporarily stranded. Frustrated users expressed their dissatisfaction social networks in the after. More here.

2022

Fire service in Australia shut down all computer systems after cyber attack

On December 16, 2022, it became known that the Australian Fire and Rescue Service in Victoria (Fire Rescue Victoria, FRV) was forced to disconnect its IT network and go offline due to a cyber attack. Read more here.

The Australian Department of Defense was subjected to a cyber attack. The data of tens of thousands of servicemen leaked

On October 31, 2022, it became known that the Australian Department of Defense was subjected to a hacker attack: attackers injected malware with ransomware functions into one of the department's information subsystems. It is said that in the hands of criminals could be personal information about tens of thousands of military personnel. Read more here.

2020

Launch of a national program to block phishing SMS using the blockchain

On September 15, 2020, it became known about the launch Australia of a national blocking program. phishing SMS The solution uses blockchain technology, a local telecommunications company takes part in the project. Telstra

In an interview with ZDNet, Telstra CEO Andy Penn noted that the proof of concept phase has come to an end, and a full deployment of the program should be expected by the end of 2020. The project is focused on blocking phishing messages sent to users primarily on behalf of government services.

Work on a national program to block phishing SMS was carried out in conjunction with the Australian Cyber ​ ​ Security Center (ACSC). Penn explained that the ACSC's involvement allowed the company to establish information sharing between government and industry, giving project participants a better chance of mitigating the effects of malicious acts.

Australia launches national program to block phishing SMS using blockchain

It's not that the ACSC has something that we don't have, or we have something that the ACSC doesn't - we both look at the world differently and we both have access to information that the other side probably doesn't, "Penn said.

The Telstra initiative, called Cleaner Pipes, is aimed at blocking botnets, downloading Trojans that assume remote access to infected devices, as well as other forms of malware. The solution uses metadata to determine the name substitution when sending messages, and subsequently the attack is blocked.

The head of Telstra believes that the Australian authorities should openly talk about the actions taken to combat cybercrime in the country and consider different measures to punish attackers.

Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds told ZDNet that if successful, other Australian telecommunications companies would also join the project.^[1]

Allocation of another $1 billion for cybersecurity "due to Chinese attacks"

On June 30, 2020, Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, announced the decision of the authorities to allocate $926.1 million over the next decade for the development of the cybersecurity industry. Such investments are expected to enable Canberra to successfully counter hacker attacks.

Morrison's announcement comes state power after a number of attacks were carried out on bodies, essential service providers as well as critical infrastructure operators a few weeks ago. Australia refuses to disclose who may be involved in the attacks. However, several sources familiar with the situation told the news agency Reuters that they were under suspicion of Australia, China although Beijing denied these assumptions.

Australia will strengthen its cybersecurity by $1 billion

In a statement, Morrison noted that the government's priority is to protect the economy, national security and the sovereignty of the state. According to Linda Reynolds, Australia's defence minister, the extra amount of funds is part of an investment package formed by the state in the wake of the attack on parliament, as well as three major political parties in 2019. It is known that more than $322 million will be used to form new units in the Australian Radio Engineering Defense Directorate (ASD) and to hire more than 500 cybersecurity experts. The country is also ready to finance research and development in this area, necessary for timely identification of threats and data exchange.

Reynolds drew attention to the fact that hacker attacks did not cause serious failures in the functioning of important systems and did not provoke the leakage of confidential information, as the department was able to quickly inform enterprises and organizations about the need to take additional measures to protect data and prevent attacks.^[2]

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