Cyber spy games
The federal government's move to name and shame a powerful Chinese spy agency behind hacking attacks highlights the herculean task it faces in dealing with cybersecurity threats.
The Australian government took the significant step on Tuesday of naming and shaming a powerful Chinese spy agency for being behind a large-scale hacking campaign against the country.
It’s a sobering reminder that the stabilisation in relations between Canberra and Beijing that has taken place under the Albanese government has its limits. It also illustrates the herculean task the government faces in responding to and mitigating large scale cyber attacks.
Along with sister agencies from ‘Five Eyes’ countries as well as Germany, South Korea and Japan, the Australian Signals Directorate released an advisory message accusing the APT40 group of “malicious cyber operations” against Australian businesses and governments.
Among other things, APT40 allegedly stole hundreds of usernames and passwords from an Australian entity in 2022, as well as as well as a number of multi-factor authentication codes.
