14 DAY TRIAL // Australian state officials are pointing the finger at Chinese hackers for the recent cyber-attack against the country's biggest supercomputer, found under the management of Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
The attack, described as "massive," targeted the Bureau of Meteorology's supercomputer due to the central part it plays in the country's IT infrastructure.
Because of the highly accurate weather predictions it provides, data from this supercomputer is funneled to various other state departments in Australia's government system. For example, the country's Department of Defense relies on the supercomputer's data to coordinate troop movements in case of war or emergency states.
A compromise of this system would allow any third-party attacker indirect access routes to other sensitive government systems.
It will cost millions of dollars to fix
Citing an Australian official, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) said the attack took place not long ago and caused severe damages, costing several millions of (Australian) dollars to remediate. The official also estimated that it would take government agencies years to fix it.
Another unnamed government source claimed the attack came from China. Government investigators traced it back to one of China's military buildings in Shanghai.
Of course, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied any involvement in the cyber-attack.
Australia has a history of being pwned by China
Earlier this month, Australia also suspected Chinese hackers of playing a part in continuous attacks on the shipmakers tasked with designing the country's new submarine.
In 2013, Australia had another run-in with Chinese state-sponsored hackers, when they accused China of stealing the top-secret plans for the country's new intelligence agency headquarters.
A report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre reveals that its security experts are seeing daily cyber espionage activity targeting Australian Government networks.
Faced with this constant threat, in September 2014, the Australian Signals Directorate, a government agency, started recruiting IT specialists to help bolster the country's cyber capabilities.