A report on the 4th June 2019 edition of BBC News, said that the network at Australian National University (ANU), rated the top university in Australia was hacked by a 'sophisticated operator' two weeks ago.
Apparently this is the second time the network at ANU was hacked with the first one happening a year ago.
The report quoting the Vice Chancellor (VC) Brian Schmidt said "significant amounts" of data had been affected and there was unauthorised access to significant amounts of personal staff, student and visitor data extending back to 19 years. The VC was further quoted to have said if not for upgrades undertaken after the breach a year ago, the university would not have detected the latest breach.
The interesting item in the report from the BBC was that it quoted some local media (no sources and names were provided) as saying that hackers based in China had been behind the hacking. This fear and continuous blame by the western media on China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as behind all the hacking attempts at assets in the west appears so often that it is becoming the 'boy who cried wolf story' now.
If China is so adept and sophisticated in their methods of hacking, with the same set of IT skills, China should be at the forefront in every aspect of technological advancements, far ahead of any countries in the world. Why do they bother to 'steal' from countries who, by blaming China, appears to confirm indirectly their inferior technological advances?
In this latest incident at ANU, the university confirmed that only the personal data of staff, student and visitors were compromised. These data are of use to cyber criminals but of no use to alleged state actors unless the state is also using the details of these individuals to do ransomware on each of them individually.
Hmmm.... real food for thought.