Australian Government Suffers A Widespread Ransom Attack

Uploaded on 2023-09-21 in TECHNOLOGY--Hackers, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW

Multiple departments and agencies of the Australian government are victims of the cyber attack. In a recent speech Air Marshal and National Cybler Security coordinator, Darren Goldie confirmed that a total 65 agencies had been caught up in the incident.

It is now reported that The Russian ransomware group ALPHV, also known as BlackCat, hacked the commercial law firm, HWL Ebsworth, that operates throughout Australia in April 2023, stealing 3.6TB of confidential data the firm held on behalf of private sector clients as well as a large number oof governmental organisations. It is these that have now been affected. 

ALPHV are the perpetrators of a large-scale ransom attack on major US Casino operators MGMGrand and Caesars Palace. 

ALPHV was one of the top three ransomware groups targeting Australia, according to a recent study by cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks. Goldie said that individual agencies would continue to assist affected clients and the investigations under way by the Australian federal police and Victoria police would continue that some clients of the law firm with personal information exposed in the hack have yet to be informed.

Goldie also revealed he had delayed informing the public quickly to avoid sparking anxiety in those potentially affected. He also confirmed the Australian federal police and the Department of Home Affairs were victims of the hack, while also being agencies responsible for investigating it.

When hackers exposed the passports, licenses and medical ID cards of 9.8 million current and former clients of Australian mobile-phone operator Optus last year, the company commissioned Deloitte to review what went wrong. The ALPHV group is typically paid to hack others and has been active since late 2021 and the cyber security company Sophos said the group has consistently targeted large organisations.

Ground News:   HWL Ebsworth:     CSO Online:    Bloomberg:   TEISS:   BankInfoSecurity:   Guardian: 

Image. Thitima Thongkham

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