Australia sees ‘sophisticated state actor’ behind hacker attack on parliament, parties

Australia on Monday said a “sophisticated state actor” had hacked the country’s main political parties and parliament, just weeks before a closely fought election. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said security agencies looking at a hack of parliament computer systems revealed two weeks ago “also became aware that the networks of some political parties” had been breached. “Our cyber experts believe that a sophisticated state actor is responsible for this malicious activity,” he said. Security agencies said they did not know who was behind the attack or their motives, AFP reports. It is not clear what, if any, material was stolen during the hacks. Earlier this month, Australia reported a “security incident on the parliamentary computing network.”