The cybersecurity director at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has said that the cyberattack on the Nine Network on Sunday could have been politically motivated.
“If you did get asked to pay a ransom, it might be a ransomware attack, in which case you would be looking at a cybercriminal,” Hanson said. “If you didn’t get asked to pay a ransom, you may be looking at other actors, including state actors.”
“Our focus in the first 24 hours was on containment, and we are confident our technology teams have isolated the attacker and the specific destructive activity that was initiated,” Nine’s chief information and technology officer Damian Cronan said.
The network was crippled by the incident, with many of its systems forced offline, causing publishing delays and preventing some shows from airing.
Staff members have also been asked to work from home until further notice.
Nine wrote on Twitter: “Whether it’s criminal sabotage or the work of a foreign nation is still being investigated, but this attack could reveal a nationwide vulnerability.”
“The network was not compromised, and there is no identified data loss.”
The news about the cyber attack on Nine and Parliament House comes after two other attacks were registered in Australia in March.
Many of Melbourne’s Eastern Health service systems have remained offline since a cyber attack on March 16, forcing some administration work back to pen and paper and causing significant delays.
Western Australia’s Parliamentary Services Department had also been attacked on March 4, during the middle of the state election. Beijing-backed hackers are suspected to be behind this incident, which was part of a global cyberattack involving Microsoft software.
The ASCS has urged many Australian organisations to patch vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange program.
