EXCLUSIVE: Australia determined that China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and three largest political parties, but decided not to go public with the findings. More here:
SYDNEY - Australian intelligence determined China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and three largest political parties before the general election in May, five people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The report, which also included input from the Department of Foreign Affairs, recommended keeping the findings secret in order to avoid disrupting trade relations with Beijing, two of the people said. The Australian government has not disclosed who it believes was behind the attack or any details of the report.
“China hopes that Australia can meet China halfway, and do more to benefit mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries.” The ASD investigation quickly established that the hackers had also accessed the networks of the ruling Liberal party, its coalition partner the rural-based Nationals, and the opposition Labor party, two of the sources said.
The attack on the political parties gave the perpetrators access to policy papers on topics such as tax and foreign policy, and private email correspondence between lawmakers, their staff and other citizens, two sources said. The people declined to specify how the attackers breached network security and said it was unclear when the attack had begun or how long the hackers had access to the networks.
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