Another cyber attack has rocked Australia with hackers targeting Defence Australia’s communications platform ForceNet early this week. 

One of Defence’s external communications providers ForceNet, a platform where personnel and their families can communicate securely, share information on community events and job opportunities and get in touch with support services, holds around 30,000 and 40,000 records. 

According to Reuters, ForceNet came under a ransomware attack on Monday, though Assistant Minister For Defence Matt Thistlethwaite states that no data has been compromised so far. 

“I want to stress that this isn’t an attack or a breach on defence (technology) systems and entities,” Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite said.  

“At this stage, there is no evidence that the data set has been breached, that’s the data that this company holds on behalf of defence.” 

Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corp cited from an unidentified source with knowledge of the investigation that some private information such as dates of birth and enlistment details of military personnel may have been stolen. 

Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite said the federal government will view the cyber security incident “very seriously”. 

All defence personnel have been notified of the data breach, with suggestions to consider changing their passwords. 

Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty and Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell further supported Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite’s claim by stating that while there was no evidence of the data being compromised, data breach checks were being done on the communications service. 

Reuters also revealed that a Defence spokesperson informed them via an emailed statement that the department was examining the contents of the impacted data set and what personal information it contained. 

The cyberattack on ForceNet is just one of the recent cyber attacks on Australia’s critical infrastructure. Weeks earlier, the second largest telecommunications company Optus and the country’s biggest health insurer Medibank suffered significant data breaches that have exposed the details of millions of customers. 

The attack on ForceNet was found to be a ransomware attack. A ransomware attack is committed when hackers encrypt the stolen data and then offer a key in return for cryptocurrency payments. These payments are often said to run up to millions of dollars. 

Technology experts have also stated that Australia has become a target for cyber attacks due to the skills shortage within the cyber security sector. 

Source: Reuters. Content has been edited for style and length.

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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