Chinese hackers attack Australian national universities, threatening national security

The Australian National University (ANU) said on July 6, 2018, that its computer system was attacked by hacker several months ago. The university said the threat was found to be seeking advice from the Australian federal government a few months later.

Australia’s Fairfax media was the first to report the attack and pointed out that it was a Chinese hacker in an unfounded situation. The National Security Institute of the Australian National University is responsible for cultivating defence and intelligence officials. The media’s coverage has raised Australia’s concerns about national security.

A national security official from Australia declared to Fairfax: “Networks at the Australian National University in Canberra, which is home to several defense-focused research units, were breached “months ago” by attackers whom authorities traced to China.”

Australian 9News media said that it was informed by sources that the Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) tracked and found that the attack came from China and said that the hacker-controlled the domain name controller of the Australian National University, thereby obtaining the system administrator rights to access the network

The Australian National University has confirmed that it has been working with Australian intelligence agencies for months to minimise the impact of threats.

The Australian National University informs students by email:

“Over the past several months the university has been working in partnership with Australia government agencies to assess the scale and minimize the impact of the threat.”

The Australian National University revealed that the current assessment showed that the university’s staff and students’ information and research information didn’t steal.

Australia is increasingly paying attention to cybersecurity. The Australian Federal Government opened the Joint Cyber Security Centre (JCSC) in Perth on July 6, 2018, which is the fourth national-level centre in Australia to date. The three located in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Also, Australia will open its fifth such centre in Adelaide later in 2018. As a $47 million program, JCSC is touted as a critical centre for businesses and governments to improve cybersecurity practices and share information.

Source: Reuters, cyberscoop