Written by staff writer.
A pro-Russian hacking group has carried out a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Australian government websites in response to a decision to provide Ukraine with locally made counter-drone technology.
On October 6, NoName057(16) “banged” the Department of Home Affairs and Administrative Appeals Tribunal websites in response to a decision to provide the Slinger “drone killer system” to Kyiv. Melbourne-based Electro Optic Systems (EOS) manufactures the kit that tracks and shoots down drones.
“Sucking up to Ukrainian neo-nazis will only lead to an increase in the number of cyber attacks,” NoName057(16) posted on its Telegram feed on the day of the attacks.
The hackers took down the Home Affairs website late on the evening of October 5 (AEDT time). However, the website was online again by the start of business the following day, albeit experiencing some functionality issues.
“No departmental holdings, including personal or sensitive information, were accessed by the threat actor,” reads a Home Affairs statement on the attack. “An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident is underway, but initial assessments indicate that the DDoS attack was solely designed to prevent access to our websites.”
An Administrative Appeals Tribunal spokesperson said the attack required them to close down one of its systems temporarily. “We successfully deployed measures to deal with the incident, and the system is now back online,” the spokesperson said. MySecurityMedia has also contacted EOS for comment.
NoName057(16) is described as a lone wolf operator among the many pro-Russian hacking groups. It launches daily DDoS on countries and entities it deems pro-Ukraine using the custom-made DDoSia toolkit. After Volodya Zelensky visited Granada, Spain, last week to discuss the provision of anti-aircraft systems, NoName hit a variety of Spanish websites ranging from the National Cyber Centre, the Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation, the Granada metro, and tourism portals. On October 9, Slovakian websites were in its firing line, including those belonging to the ministries of defence and internal affairs.
The group reportedly conducts reconnaissance of target countries and entities to determine the most effective websites to attack. After the attack, which may only last minutes but aims to maximise disruptions, they publish a report online that assesses the availability and performance of website servers in the target countries.
“It’s a shame (not really) that Australia doesn’t have systems in place to track our DDoS attacks,” NoName057(16) said.
Home Affairs says its cyber incident response arrangements meant its websites and portals were up and running again reasonably quickly. However, it says there remain intermittent performance issues with its website. The department says its early intelligence assessment indicates the attack was primarily designed to generate publicity for the hackers.
Shadow Minister for Cybersecurity, Senator James Paterson said that it was “very embarrassing that the Department responsible for cyber security has been taken down by a low-sophistication cyber attack.” The Australian Greens have also asked why the website of the government agency responsible for cybersecurity was able to be shut down so easily.
