Hands up if you work in the cyber security sector.....
Newsflash. China, and ALL countries with the capabiilty, are constantly probing and trying to gain information from other countries. This includes allies. Having information gives you an advantage even when doing "friendly" negotiations.
This is what the ACSC has stated about today's briefing.
"The Australian Cyber Security Centre's (ACSC) advisory about the attack described so-called copy-paste compromises that could be addressed by running software updates and other typical security measures.
"We've got to recognise what this isn't: this is not the [Prime Minister] declaring cyber war on China, this is not the [Prime Minister] announcing Australia is suddenly under major cyber attack," said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.
Instead, in his view, it's "an extreme health check".
"He's basically saying to all Australians, you've got to help yourselves. You've got to help us protect you.""
To summarise that for you, there is NOTHING new today. That's why Scomo couldn't provide anything specific. He even stated that this is not new and has been ongoing for sometime. Is China probing and launching cyber attacks....most definitely yes....just like they have done the last 10 years. So is everyone else.
Secondly, "copy paste" attacks and ransomware are NOT sophisticated. It doesn't take a state backed actor to launch these attacks.....in fact, enough googling you could launch one yourself (not suggesting you do).
So now ask yourself...why did Scomo feel inclined to give the briefing this morning?
Here are a few cool real time attack maps to see who is attacking who.
https://threatmap.checkpoint.com/
https://www.fireeye.com/cyber-map/threat-map.html
https://www.digitalattackmap.com/