Category: Victoria

Recently, the court systems of Victoria State in Australia fell victim to a cyberattack, and suspicions point towards a Russian ransomware gang. The IT staff of the court systems reported a fraudulent infiltration on December 21, 2023, revealing that audio and video recordings related to sensitive cases were pilfered by hackers.

While the full extent of the impact is yet to be disclosed pending an ongoing investigation, it has been confirmed that the hackers accessed details concerning transcription and recording services spanning from November 1 to December 21, 2023.

Initially, the focus was on a Russian ransomware gang known as BlackCat/ALPHV as the possible culprits. However, law enforcement is also exploring the motive behind the cybercriminals’ specific interest in stealing audio and transcription data, excluding other information like staff salary details.

Louis Anderson, the CEO of Court Services Victoria, assured the public that more information will be shared with the media once the investigation by law enforcement concludes. As of now, there is no information regarding any ransom demands, and the motive behind the attack remains unclear.

Typically, hackers employing file-encrypting malware seize data and encrypt entire databases, demanding a ransom for decryption. They often threaten to sell the stolen data to the highest bidder. However, in this case, the cybercriminals focused on extracting a specific dataset generated within a designated timeframe.

Given Australia’s support for Ukraine through financial and essential aid, there is speculation that the Russian government may have orchestrated the attack to pressure the Albanese-led Australian government to cease its support for the government led by Volodymyr Zelensky. Despite this setback, court proceedings are expected to resume normally in January 2024, as the affected systems have been isolated to prevent the spread of malware.

The post Australia Victoria State Court System data breach by Russia appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

Data of Australian Victorian Populace appears to be exposed, as a technology company managing and serving was infiltrated by hackers on Wednesday last week. PNORS Technology Group, is the company that witnessed a compromise of its computer network recently, apparently spilling sensitive details to hackers.

PNORS owns about 5-companies and information is out that hackers launched a cyber attack on two of its companies- Netway Networks and Datatime Services on November 2nd -3rd of this year.

As the latter deals with Digi-document management and the former serves as management IT services provider, the damage seems to be more than expected.

Paul Gallo, the CEO of PNORS, acknowledged the news as true and assured that it will reveal more details after a thorough investigation gets concluded.

On Sunday last week, criminals leaked some information to prove that they are in hold of sensitive details gained from the hack and the threat actors targeted Department of Education and Training in Victoria (one among the victims) and are threatening to sell the details of a health questionnaire on the dark web if their demands aren’t met.

NOTE- The questionnaire contains a link to database where personal information of primary school students, including their drug abuse history, development and behavioral issues and their family alcohol details, were recorded along with their demographics.

Victorian populace data breach comes just within weeks after the revelation of Optus, SingTel and Medibank data breach.

So, the government seems to have taken a serious note of the situation and launched a national level formal inquiry with a specialized team of forensic security experts.

 

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