Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybercrime

Anonymous Targets Australian Spy Agency

Anonymous Hits Australian Security Intelligence Organisation With DDoS Attacks in #OpAustralia

SYDNEY – (AFP) – Anonymous on Friday claimed to have shut down a computer server belonging to Australia’s domestic spy agency ASIO, reportedly briefly closing down access to its public webpage.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) acknowledged some disruption to its website.

Anonymous Hits Australian Security Intelligence Organisation With DDoS Attacks in #OpAustralia

SYDNEY – (AFP) – Anonymous on Friday claimed to have shut down a computer server belonging to Australia’s domestic spy agency ASIO, reportedly briefly closing down access to its public webpage.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) acknowledged some disruption to its website.

“ASIO is aware that there may have been some technical issues with its public website,” a spokesperson said.

“ASIO’s public website does not host any classified information and any disruption would not represent a risk to ASIO’s business.”

Twitter has carried comments in recent days that ASIO and Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) sites were being targeted by Australian hackers linked to Anonymous.

In an early Thursday morning post on its Twitter feed Anonymous Australia (@AuAnon) wrote: “The anonymous Operation Australia hackers have today again been busy with further attacks on the ASIO and DSD website.” The Sydney Morning Herald reported that ASIO’s website was down for at least 30 minutes Friday morning, but it appeared to be loading normally Friday afternoon.

Anonymous #OpMegaUpload Launches DDoS Attacks

Operation Australia, which has its own @Op_Australia Twitter stream said it would “stop the attacks at 10pm Aus. BUT we will never stop watching!”.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

The personal and departmental websites of Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, the ruling Labor party’s South Australia branch and Tasmania police sites were also targeted in the plot, which was referred to as #TangoDown.

It appeared linked to a controversial government plan to store the web history of all Australians for up to two years which was shelved Thursday until after the 2013 elections.

In 2011, ASIO revealed it had established a cyber intelligence unit although it is believed to have been operating for some time before it was announced.

The then attorney-general Robert McClelland said while traditional espionage still posed risks, “the explosion of the cyber world has expanded infinitely the opportunities for the covert acquisition of information by both state and non-state actors.”

Related Reading: Anonymous Attacks Ukrainian Government After Demonoid Takedown

Related Reading: FinFisher “Lawful Interception” Spyware Found in Ten Countries, Including the U.S.

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cybercrime

The changing nature of what we still generally call ransomware will continue through 2023, driven by three primary conditions.

Cybercrime

A recently disclosed vBulletin vulnerability, which had a zero-day status for roughly two days last week, was exploited in a hacker attack targeting the...

Cybercrime

As it evolves, web3 will contain and increase all the security issues of web2 – and perhaps add a few more.

Cybercrime

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group informed some customers last week that their online accounts had been breached by hackers.

Cybercrime

Zendesk is informing customers about a data breach that started with an SMS phishing campaign targeting the company’s employees.

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Artificial Intelligence

The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 has demonstrated the potential of AI for both good and bad.

Cybercrime

Satellite TV giant Dish Network confirmed that a recent outage was the result of a cyberattack and admitted that data was stolen.