After a string of profitable ransomware assaults towards high-profile targets in Australia, the nation has determined to go on the offensive towards risk actors.

A press launch printed (opens in new tab) on the Australian Authorities’s web site introduced a “Joint standing operation” combining the sources of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Indicators Directorate, an analog to the Nationwide Safety Company (NSA) within the US.

Its mission can be to “examine, goal, and disrupt cyber-criminal syndicates with a precedence on ransomware risk teams”. 

On the offensive

Talking to native media, Minister for Dwelling Affairs and Cyber Safety Clare O’Neil mentioned the operation will “scour the world, seek out the prison syndicates and gangs who’re focusing on Australia in cyber-attacks, and disrupt their efforts.”

“This isn’t a mannequin of policing, the place we await against the law to be dedicated after which attempt to perceive who it’s and do one thing to the people who find themselves accountable. We’re offensively going to seek out these folks hunt them down and debilitate them earlier than they will assault our nation.”

The issue with such an operation, O’Neil mentioned, is that these teams are nearly at all times situated in different nations and different jurisdictions and that typically, that nation’s authorities helps their motion. That’s why the aim will most probably be to attempt to disrupt their operations as a lot as potential. 

“It weakens these teams if governments like ours collaborate with the FBI and different police forces and intelligence companies world wide. The second necessary factor that we have to do is arise and say that Australia is just not going to be a delicate goal to this kind of factor. And if folks come after our residents, we’re going to go after them.”

Companies in Australia have suffered a few main ransomware assaults in current occasions. Final yr’s assault towards meat producers JBS resulted within the firm “standing down” some 7000 Australian staff.

Extra just lately, native well being insurer Medibank and telecommunications big Optus have each suffered main ransomware assaults involving information theft.

The Medibank incident remains to be ongoing, because the risk actors are nonetheless releasing stolen information to the wild. The corporate has publicly acknowledged that it will not pay any ransom demand to cease the leaks.

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Through: The Register (opens in new tab)