hacking Archives

Australia joins US, UK and EU in saying China was behind the global Microsoft email hack

Simon Thomsen - July 20, 2021 2 MIN READ

The Australian government has accused China’s Ministry of State Security being behind a global hack of Microsoft’s Exchange email system earlier this year. The announcement, released by Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Marise Payne late on Monday night, alongside Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews and Defence Minister Peter Dutton, coincidences with similar findings announced by leading… Read more »

Topic

A cyber attack downed the NSW Education Dept website just as the government ordered schools to switch to online teaching

Casey Tonkin - July 9, 2021 2 MIN READ

The NSW Department of Education was hit by an apparent cyber attack on Wednesday. In a notice published on Thursday, the department said it took precautionary measures, shutting down many of its systems including the online portal teachers were using in preparation for the new school term. “The timing of this creates considerable challenges for… Read more »

Cyber security

The top 5 most dangerous criminal organisations online right now

The Conversation - July 8, 2021 4 MIN READ

On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog! These words from Peter Steiner’s famous cartoon could easily be applied to the recent ransomware attack on Florida-based software supplier Kaseya. Kaseya provides software services to thousands of clients around the world. It’s estimated between 800 and 1,500 medium to small businesses may be impacted by the… Read more »

Cyber security

A suspected Russian hack on a US software company has caused a mass ransomware disaster

Casey Tonkin - July 6, 2021 3 MIN READ

A supply chain attack on Kaseya VSA has caused a mass ransomware event. The attack began with a zero-day vulnerability on Kaseya VSA, a remote monitoring and management tool, which spread to managed service providers (MSPs) and some of their customers. Kaseya, a US-based software company, issued its first warning about the incident on Friday… Read more »

Cyber security

Researchers found a cybersecurity flaw in Atlassian software that left it vulnerable to account takeovers

Casey Tonkin - June 29, 2021 2 MIN READ

Atlassian products were vulnerable to a hack that could have seen attackers gain access to user accounts, cybersecurity analysts found. Researchers from security firm Check Point discovered a set of flaws which, if exploited, would have enabled bad actors to take over the accounts of Atlassian products like Jira and Bitbucket. The researchers found the training.atlassian.com subdomain… Read more »

Cyber security

Security flaws in Microsoft’s Exchange software reveals key issues in Australia’s cybersecurity approach

Carsten Rudolph - March 15, 2021 3 MIN READ

On March 2, 2021, Microsoft published information about four critical vulnerabilities in its widely used Exchange email server software that are being actively exploited. It also released security updates for all versions of Exchange back to 2010. Microsoft has told cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs it was notified of the vulnerabilities in “early January”. The Australian… Read more »

Topic

Hackers are targeting Australia: Scott Morrison flags ‘state-based’ attacks – and it all points to China

Cec Busby - June 19, 2020 2 MIN READ

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australian organisations are currently being targeted by “a sophisticated state-based cyber actor” in a media conference that appears to escalate the ongoing war of words with China. “This activity is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers… Read more »

Topic

The FBI is investigating a hack on Canva’s user database

Simon Thomsen - May 27, 2019 2 MIN READ

Canva CEO and founder Mel Perkins Australian design platform Canva’s customer database was attacked on Friday, with hackers stealing usernames and email addresses, as well as encrypted passwords. Canva wrote to its customers on the weekend recommending they change their passwords as a precaution, while reassuring them that all user passwords were salted and hashed… Read more »

Topic

Should cyber officials be required to tell victims of cyber crimes they’ve been hacked?

The Conversation - January 15, 2019 4 MIN READ

Few countries have laws that require their cyber agencies that monitor hacking to report the criminal acts – either to third party victims or to the police.

Topic

What is the Notifiable Data Breach scheme and how will it affect your startup?

Cec Busby - February 21, 2018 3 MIN READ

According to the OAIC an ‘eligible data breach’, which triggers notification obligations, is a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to any of the individuals to whom the information relates.

Advice

Security startup Armourcard has developed a new device to protect phones from wireless hacking

James Ward - September 5, 2017 4 MIN READ

Armourcell is a peel-and-stick square that can be slapped onto the back of mobile phones to protect a user’s mobile phone from wireless breaches.

Topic

Victorian government releases strategy to help boost cybersecurity efforts

James Ward - August 28, 2017 2 MIN READ

The Victorian Government has established the Victoria Cyber Security Strategy, which outlines how the government will move against cyber threats.