Australia Faces Surge in Cyber Attacks in 2024
Australia has once again made headlines for its growing cybersecurity concerns, with 2024 seeing an alarming escalation in cyber attacks. In fact, the country reached a new record in which every online user was targeted by cyber attacks on a per-second basis, marking a staggering 12-fold increase from the previous year. In 2023, it was reported that one in every five users had fallen victim to these attacks.
A recent survey by Surfshark, a company specializing in VPN and security services, highlighted the severity of the situation, suggesting that Australia could soon face a major data breach crisis unless users adopt essential cybersecurity practices. The increasing use of AI-driven attacks further exacerbates the risks, making it more difficult to defend against sophisticated cyber threats.
Lee Enterprises Hit by Ransomware Attack
In another major cybersecurity incident, Lee Enterprises, a prominent news publishing company, announced earlier this month that it had been targeted by a ransomware attack. Hackers attempted to lock down the company’s databases and demanded a ransom in exchange for restoring access.
The company is still investigating the full scope of the attack and has promised to share further details once the investigation is complete. Interestingly, Lee Enterprises was also targeted by Iranian hackers during the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, raising concerns that this recent attack could be linked to similar international cyber actors. Given the timing, it is speculated that the attackers may have waited until after the 2024 U.S. elections to strike.
Massive Hacking Campaign Infected Millions of Devices
According to research from The Shadowserver Foundation, a large-scale hacking operation involving over 2.8 million infected devices has been wreaking havoc across global computer networks. These devices, spread across various countries, have been used to launch massive waves of fake web traffic, disrupting online services.
Brazil accounts for the majority of the infected devices, with smaller numbers of devices traced to countries such as Turkey, Russia, Argentina, Morocco, and Mexico. Experts believe the devices were compromised through brute-force attacks, likely due to weak passwords used by the device owners.
Russian Hacking Group Compromises Hewlett Packard Enterprises’ Email Servers
Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) confirmed that it fell victim to a cyber attack believed to be orchestrated by a Russian hacking group. The breach, which targeted the company’s Office 365 environment, began in May 2023 and continued until December 2023, before being contained.
The stolen data includes sensitive personal information, such as social security numbers, driver’s licenses, and credit card details of HPE employees, along with miscellaneous other data.
HPE suspects that the Russian hackers gained access by exploiting vulnerabilities in their Microsoft Office servers. The breach highlights the growing threat of state-sponsored cybercrime and the need for organizations to bolster their cybersecurity defenses.
