Cyber attack on Victorias court system may have exposed recordings of sensitive cases ABC News

pppCyber attack on Victorias court system may have exposed recordings of sensitive casesppVictorias court system has been hit by a ransomware attack which an independent expert believes was orchestrated by Russian hackersppA spokesperson for Court Services Victoria CSV said hackers accessed an area of the court systems audiovisual archive That would mean recordings of hearings including witness testimony from highly sensitive cases may have been accessed or stolenppCSV is now trying to notify people whose court appearances have been accessed by hackers and will today set up a contact centre for people who believe they may have been affectedppThe recordings were from hearings between November 1 and December 21 but it is possible some hearings before November have also been affectedppThe attack was discovered on December 21 in the lead up to the Christmas break when staff were locked out of their computers and messages appeared on screens reading YOU HAVE BEEN PWNDppThe message directed court staff to a text file in which hackers threatened to publish files stolen from the court system and directed them to an address on the dark web for instructions on how to recover the filesppIn an update on Tuesday morning CSV said County Court cases had been most severely affectedppAll criminal and civil hearings recorded on the network between November 1 and December 21 may have been accessed  including at least two cases involving historical and child sexual abuseppThe Supreme Court was also hit hard with recordings from the Court of Appeal the Criminal Division the Practice Court and two regional hearings in November possibly accessedppNo hearings from the Childrens Court have been compromised from November or December but one hearing from October may have remained on the networkppSome committal hearings from the Magistrates Court were affected but there were none from VCATppActing Premier Ben Carroll said court operations were not been affectedppI understand that this attack has essentially been confined and all court cases all hearings all evidence all procedure is thoroughly protected We are very confident that we will get to the bottom of it he saidppIndependent cyber security expert Robert Potter who has seen evidence of the attack said the court system had almost certainly been hit by a Russian phishing attack using commercial ransomware known as QilinppIts a double extortion approach he saidppThey take the data out and then encrypt it If you dont pay they leak your data and you will never access itppThe Court Services Victoria spokesperson said CSV took immediate action to isolate and disable the affected network and to put in place arrangements to ensure continued operations across the courts As a result hearings in January will be proceedingppMaintaining security for court users is our highest priority Our current efforts are focused on ensuring our systems are safeppThis week the ABC revealed probiotic company Yakult Australia had been hit by a significant cyber attack that saw its company records and sensitive employee documents such as passports published on the dark webppOther major companies and institutions such as Optus and Medibank have also suffered highprofile attacks with the St Vincents Health network also targeted in the leadup to Christmas ppAustralia is a rich target because we are a modern first world country with a bunch of money cyber security consultant Troy Hunt saidppInevitably there are security deficiencies that have allowed this to happenppCompanies cant fix it on their own and police are unable to helpppWe acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live learn and workppThis service may include material from Agence FrancePresse AFP APTN Reuters AAP CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproducedppAEST Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT Greenwich Mean Timep