#Australia under ‘sophisticated’ cyberattack from a foreign state: PM

Australia is facing “sophisticated” and “malicious” cyberattacks from a foreign government, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.

The ongoing attacks are targeting all levels of the Australian government, as well as “political organizations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure,” Morrison said.

“We know it is a sophisticated state-based cyber actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting,” Morrison said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He said the frequency of the attacks had increased “over many months.”

So far, there have not been any “large-scale” breaches of people’s personal information, Morrison said — adding that he was announcing the attacks on Thursday “to raise awareness of this important issue.”

And “to encourage organizations, particularly those in the health, critical infrastructure and essential services to take expert advice and implement technical defenses to thwart this malicious cyber activity,” Morrison added.

Asked whether the country responsible had been identified, Morrison said his government would not be making “any public attribution” about the attacks.

“What I can confirm is there are not a large number of state-based actors that can engage in this type of activity,” he added.