Hackers Attack Australian Department of Defense Communication Platform, Army Data May Have Been Broken

Illustration of hackers who break into the internet network. (photo: dock. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Hackers have targeted a communications platform used by Australian military personnel and defense staff with a ransomware attack. This was said by authorities in the land of Kangaroo on Monday, October 31, as the country is battling a recent surge in cyber attacks across the business sector.

The service ForceNet, an external provider contracted by the defense department to run one of its websites, has been attacked by hackers. But according to Assistant Secretary of Defense Matt Thistlethwaite, so far no data has been compromised,

"I want to stress that this is not an attack or breach of defense systems and entities," Thistlethwaite told ABC Radio. "At this stage, there is no evidence that the data set has been breached, it is data that this company holds in the name of defence."

However some personal information such as date of birth and enlistment details of military personnel may have been stolen. This was reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the investigation.

Thistlethwaite said the government would take the incident "very seriously" and all defense personnel had been notified, with a suggestion to consider changing their passwords.

A Defense department spokesman also told Reuters in an emailed statement that the department was examining the contents of the affected dataset and what personal information it contained.

Ransom software works by encrypting the victim's data and hackers will usually offer the victim the key in exchange for cryptocurrency payments that can run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Some of Australia's biggest companies, including second-largest telecommunications company Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, and the country's largest health insurer, Medibank Private Ltd have in the past month been hacked and had data stolen, possibly exposing the details of millions of their customers.

Tech experts say Australia has been the target of cyberattacks as it lacks a skilled cybersecurity workforce. Even these unskilled personnel are forced to overwork themselves to the point of being unprepared to stop emerging cyberattacks.