Hacking storm: China accused of bringing down weather computers

China has been blamed for a major cyber attack on one of Australia’s weather computers. It was said by officials to have targeted the Bureau of Meteorology in a breach which would cost millions of dollars to fix. The attack was also said to have affected other state agencies. The weather bureau has one of Australia’ biggest supercomputers and its systems are linked to the Department of Defence offices in Canberra.

So what we understand of the Chinese attack on the BoM is entirely consistent with what we know of how Chinese intelligence operates

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings

Bringing down Australia’s ability to accurately predict the weather could affect the operation of military and commercial aircraft. The bureau’s intellectual property and scientific research would also be of interest to a foreign power. The bureau has yet to confirm the breach. It said: “The bureau’s systems are fully operational and the bureau continues to provide reliable, on-going access to high quality weather, climate, water and oceans information to its stakeholders.” But a spokesman for prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said: “The government takes any cyber attacks seriously and is currently reviewing its cyber security policy.”

We believe it is not responsible to make groundless accusations or speculation

Chinese foreign ministry

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