Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/03/28/china_hacks_oz_parliament_net/

Oz parliamentary network breached

Unidentified finger points uncertainly at China

By Richard Chirgwin

Posted in Security, 28th March 2011 22:44 GMT

In a security breach that presumably now has Chinese spies trawling through the kind of letters MPs do their best to deflect or ignore, the Australian Parliament House network has been invaded.

The network is not rated as suitable for “sensitive” communications. According to News Limited, Australian government officials were alerted to the breach by US intelligence, who also seem to have pointed the finger at China as the source of the attack.

The Australian government has refused to confirm or deny the breach, nor did it confirm to News whether or not ASIO would launch an immediate investigation into the incident.

The News report says the attack has compromised the email accounts of ten federal ministers, including the PM, providing access to “thousands” of emails.

Just last week, the Australian National Audit Office criticised the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for allowing access to webmail services such as Gmail and Hotmail from government computers. ®