« Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed Australia’s political parties suffered cyber attacks alongside the Parliament House computer network several weeks ago by a « sophisticated state actor ».
The announcement is likely to intensify speculation that China was behind the attacks, which come just three months before the federal election, though Mr Morrison said there was no evidence of election interference.
The computer servers of Australia’s major political parties have been hit by a cyber-attack with a “sophisticated state actor” suspected to be behind the plot, says the prime minister.
Sources are describing the level of sophistication as « unprecedented » but are unable to say yet which foreign government is behind the attack.
The attacks are understood to carry the digital fingerprints of China, though authorities are concerned that another state could be replicating the hallmarks of Chinese intelligence to deflect blame towards them.
Mr Morrison told Parliament on Monday that while investigating the parliamentary hack, cybersecurity authorities « also became aware that the networks of some political parties, Liberal, Labor and Nationals, have also been affected ».
Security agencies « acted decisively to confront it », Mr Morrison said.
« Our cyber experts believe that a sophisticated state actor is responsible for this malicious activity. »
Only four nations are thought to be capable of such a high-level attack: China, Russia, Israel and the United States. »