Morrison revealed the existence of the attack during a press conference on Friday, adding that “state-based cyber actors” were “targeting Australian organizations in various sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organizations, education, health, important service providers and other critical infrastructure operators. . “
He did not specify which agency or business was believed to be under attack, nor did he specify the exact nature of the attack – although he said that a government investigation had not yet found “large-scale violations of personal data”.
Morrison also did not say which Australian state was believed to be behind the attack. But he told reporters that “there are not a large number of state-based actors who can engage in this kind of activity.”
“It is clear … that this has been done by state-based actors with very, very significant abilities,” Morrison added.
The attacks were also not new, and Morrison explained that such threats were “a constant problem for Australia to face.” But he added that he was asked to speak on Friday because “the frequency had increased” for “months.”
Possible cause
While Morrison refused to say who might be behind the attack, the scale and time caused many political observers to immediately point their fingers at China. Asked by reporters Friday about whether Beijing was responsible, Morrison said he “could not control speculation.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment by fax.
Relations between Beijing and Canberra have improved in recent months. Australia led the call for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, and condemned its criticism of the initial handling of the Chinese outbreak. Beijing then imposes tariffs on Australian beef and wheat, and Chinese officials have threatened consumer boycotts if relations continue to deteriorate.
China has long been accused by foreign powers of orchestrating large-scale cyber attacks against other governments. Recently, Washington warned in May that China might be behind efforts to steal coronavirus vaccine research from US research institutes and pharmaceutical companies.
China states that it is the main victim, not the perpetrator, of a cyber attack. The country has consistently denied claims about its cyber espionage activities.
Ability and motives
Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), told CNN Business that there was “a 95% chance that China was responsible for this attack.”
“This really comes to an understanding of the capacity and interest that any country might have in the desire to be involved in such an attack on Australia,” said Jennings, a former senior Australian Department of Defense official. “There are other capable countries, namely Russia and North Korea, but in both cases they don’t have the scale to go as comprehensively as China.”
He added that neither Russia nor North Korea had “major strategic interests in Australian politics” at this time.
Chinese officials have attacked ASPI’s independence and credibility, calling its report “distorted facts and ridiculous.”
“There is only one country that has a combination of abilities and motives and that is China,” Jennings said. “And frankly there has also been this pattern of behavior by China for years in this regard.”
Canberra has avoided blaming other countries for major cyber attacks, including operations launched against the country’s parliament and major political parties in 2019.
Months after the attack,
Reuters reports – citing Australian government sources – that Canberra has concluded personally that China is the culprit.
“The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied involvement in any kind of hacking attack and said the internet is full of theories that are difficult to trace,” Reuters reported at the time.
Hilary Whiteman from CNN contributed a report.
