It appears that Australia has been a victim of a “sophisticated” cyberattack. And as far as Australia is concerned, though they won’t come out and say it, China is the source of the attack:
Australian intelligence has flagged similarities between the recent attacks and a cyber attack on parliament and the three largest political parties in March 2019. Last year, Reuters reported that Australia had quietly concluded China was responsible for that cyber-attack.
Australia has never publicly identified the source of that attack, however, and China denied it was responsible.
As with last year’s attack, Australia’s chief cyber intelligence agency said on Friday its investigation had found no evidence that the perpetrator sought to be “disruptive or destructive” once within the host network.
China denies this. But Australia and China are at loggerheads at the moment. Australia has wanted an investigation into China in regards to COVID-19 and how they might have delayed a global response to it. China in turn has slapped tariffs onto some Australian products and suggested that Chinese students not travel to Australia.
Expect this story to continue for some time to come.