{"id":47106,"date":"2017-10-12T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=47106"},"modified":"2017-10-12T07:45:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T07:45:00","slug":"australia-jet-and-navy-data-stolen-in-extensive-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/australia-jet-and-navy-data-stolen-in-extensive-hack.html","title":{"rendered":"Australia jet and navy data stolen in extensive hack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia jet and navy data stolen in extensive hack<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Australia jet and navy data stolen in extensive hack:- Sensitive information about Australia’s defence programmes has been stolen in an “extensive” cyber hack.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 30GB of data was compromised in the hack on a government contractor, including details about new fighter planes and navy vessels.<\/span><\/p>\n

The data was commercially sensitive but not classified, the government said. It did not know if a state was involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australian cyber security officials dubbed the mystery hacker “Alf”, after a character on TV soap Home and Away.<\/span><\/p>\n

The breach began in July last year, but the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) was not alerted until November. The hacker’s identity is not known.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It could be one of a number of different actors,” Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It could be a state actor, [or] a non-state actor. It could be someone who was working for another company.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Pyne said he had been assured the theft was not a risk to national security.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weaknesses exploited<\/span><\/p>\n

The hack was described as “extensive and extreme” by ASD incident response manager Mitchell Clarke.<\/span><\/p>\n

It included information about Australia’s new A$17bn (\u00a310bn; $13bn) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme, C130 transport plane and P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft, as well as “a few” naval vessels, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Clarke told a Sydney security conference that the hacker had exploited a weakness in software being used by the government contractor. The software had not been updated for 12 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

A report by ZDNet said officials referred to the months before ASD intervention as “Alf’s mystery happy fun time”.<\/span><\/p>\n

“For those visitors overseas to Australia, Alf is Alf Stewart from an horrific Australia soap opera called Home and Away. It’s just a thing we do,” Mr Clarke told his audience, according to BuzzFeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Salutary reminder’<\/span><\/p>\n

The government distanced itself from the Adelaide-based firm, saying it had most likely been employed by another contractor.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I don’t think you can try and sheet blame for a small enterprise having lax cyber security back to the federal government. That is a stretch,” Mr Pyne said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Fortunately, the data that was taken was commercial data, not military data, but it is still very serious and we will get to the bottom of it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

However, he said “we don’t necessarily let the public know” about the identities of hackers, because such investigations often involve confidential information.<\/span><\/p>\n

The incident was a “salutary reminder” about cyber security, he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Australia announced a surge in defence spending, a move that reflects concern over military expansion in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Military spending would grow by A$29.9bn over 10 years, including plans to buy 72 Joint Strike Fighters, the 2016 Defence White Paper outlined.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-41590614<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t