Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says cybersecurity is her number one concern, doubles down on China blame

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says cybersecurity is her number one concern, doubling down on singling out China for malicious cyber attacks that impacted tens of thousands of networks earlier this year. Ms Andrews urged businesses to bolster themselves against future attacks after the Morrison Government yesterday joined the US and dozens of other countries in calling out Beijing over the hacks. Earlier this year, the Chinese superpower conducted a sweeping hack of the Microsoft Exchange network — with a breach even recorded in the WA Parliament network right before the State election. Ms Andrews said today the Government would not have called China out by name if it did not have the “utmost confidence” in its information. She conceded there were “serious implications” to Australia singling out China and could not rule out Beijing acting in retaliation. China last year slapped numerous tariffs on Australian products, including barley, wine, beef and others in what Australian allies like the US have labelled economic coercion. “We are aware there are serious implications for any attribution that is made to any nation but we also will not compromise our position on sovereign and national security,” Ms Andrews said. “We are confident with what we’re saying, and the Government thinks we need to call out these malicious cyber attacks.” Ms Andrews said China’s cyber capacity was increasing, as were the number of attacks on Australian businesses and critical infrastructure. She said the business community urgently needed to better protect itself. “This is a two-way street, businesses need to make sure they have in place the appropriate measures to keep themselves and their data cyber-secure,” she said. “Businesses need to start understanding how big these data breaches can be, not just in terms of their reputational damage but in terms of long-term viability of their businesses. They will be more greatly subject to cyber attacks.” About 30,000 businesses were believed to have been affected globally by the Microsoft Exchange hack. Ms Andrews said while the Government would do all it could to protect Australians, it was “up to individuals” to keep their data safe. At least 10,000 Australian businesses were made vulnerable by the cyber attack attributed to China by the Morrison Government. The Australian Signals Directorate confirmed with the West Australian that over the last financial year, the nation’s Cyber Security Centre assisted over 70 organisations in relation to to the exploitation of the Microsoft Exchange vulnerability. “Malicious cyber actors targeted, and successfully compromised, Australian organisations who had not patched their exchange servers against this vulnerability,” an ASD spokesperson said. “The ACSC saw exfiltration of data and the deployment of malware.” The ACSC estimated that at least 10,000 Australian based servers were potentially vulnerable to the Microsoft Exchange hack. The most affected Australian sectors, based on ACSC investigations, were State and Federal Governments, scientific and technical services and health services.