Australia is the target of a vast cyber attack by a "state actor" which targets government, administrative and corporate computer systems, said his Prime Minister on Friday. Scott Morrison organized an emergency press conference in Canberra to warn his fellow citizens of the "specific risks" to which they found themselves exposed. "Australian organizations are currently targeted by a sophisticated state actor," he said.
China responded by discouraging its nationals from Australia as a destination for tourism and study
According to him, "this activity targets Australian organizations in a wide range of sectors, at all levels of government, the economy, political organizations, health services and other operators of strategic infrastructure". According to Australian media, the list of suspects is very small, among the states with expertise in this area (apart from Western countries, China, North Korea, Iran, Israel or Russia) . They were looking at China, which imposed punitive tariffs on some Australian exports in May.
Morrison's government had angered Beijing by calling for an independent international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, and by denouncing aggressive and dishonest Chinese diplomacy.
China responded by discouraging its nationals from Australia as a destination for tourism and study, threatening further reprisals, and sentencing an Australian to death for drug trafficking. Morrison said Friday he informed the opposition of these "malicious" computer attacks, and urged institutions and businesses to "protect themselves". He did not give any technical details, but indicated that the Australian personal data had not been stolen and that many of the attacks had failed.