Australia, a Hacker’s Paradise By Brian Simpson
Cyber experts, in the light of the Optus hack are sounding the alarm bells about how easy hacking is in Australia. Yes, but there are cyber-security issues going far beyond what we recently saw, and relate to national security. Thus, how secure is the grid from cyber-attack from people who really know how to do it, such as the Russians and communist china? What about EMP attacks? There is an American literature on this, much produced by the late Dr Peter Pry, but one can search in vain on the internet for ages and find nothing for Australia, indicating that the problem has not even been addressed. EMP and grid-directed cyber-attacks will be the first things done in world War III, which is coming up soon. The chaos will be predictably immense.
“The theft of personal data from 11 million Optus customers last week has exposed the soft underbelly of Australia's online security.
Cyber-Security Minister Claire O'Neal called the breach of the nation's second biggest telco 'a basic hack', although Optus denied this claiming the data was 'encrypted' and had 'multiple firewalls'.
A number of experts were unconvinced but that's only the start of vulnerabilities in Australia's online security, with one tech analyst saying major sectors 'don't have a clue' they are putting millions of Australians at the mercy of hackers.
Technology futurist and keynote speaker Shara Evans says Australia is an easy target for international hackers.
A particular glaring weakness is the widespread habit of sending sensitive data in unencrypted email.
Ms Evans said Australian companies don't seem to 'have a clue' about the risk this entails.
'I can not tell you how many times healthcare providers will send you information unencrypted,' she said.
'If your doctor says they will email a prescription to your pharmacy they are doing it in plain text, including your date of birth and Medicare number.'”
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