Major political parties join the Federal Parliament in the February data breach

By Cameron Abbott and Ella Richards

Following an unprecedented surge in cyber attacks against Australian businesses, an attack on Australia’s political infrastructure was imminent. New information reveals that the cyber attack against the Federal Parliament earlier this year was accompanied by yet another directed towards the Liberal, Labour and National parties.

While the malicious culprit starting poking around last November, the full throttle attack didn’t come along until 3 months later. Australia’s political institutions are high value targets for foreign entities, as they’re relatively small organisations with a huge storage of voter and community data.

It’s the distinctive sophistication of this ‘state actor’ attack that has furthered overt suspicions of foreign state agent involvement. Technical experts reported that the infiltration was the first of its kind, ringing alarm bells across the Government to strengthen security against foreign espionage and increase cyber capabilities.

Authorities are trying to calm the masses by reporting that no electoral information was taken, but they also have no idea what data was taken, or what the motives were behind it.

Various media publications have wasted no time trying to connect the dots between these incidents. A whopping 78% increase in attacks on Australian businesses, upcoming elections in May and precarious ties with suspected countries fuel their prophecies. This may be the wake up call needed to ensure the integrity of our electoral system and avoid our very own version of the alleged foreign interference in the 2016 US presidential election.