Outage a warning for ‘cyber warfare’

A cyber expert has warned a global outage which is the “biggest the world has ever seen” could possibly be a “dress rehearsal” for what a cyber terror attack would look like.

Millions of people across Australia have been affected by major outages across multiple businesses such as banks, airlines, supermarkets and media outlets.

Around 3pm on Friday, computers across the country began shutting down with multiple workers reporting issues at multiple different businesses.

The issue comes from a “bluescreen error” which is a result of a Crowdstrike outage, with servers and devices getting stuck in “boot loops”.

Cyber security expert Professor Richard Buckland told the ABC the attack seemed to be “far more innocuous” rather than sinister.

“Attacks we have seen in the past at this stage, normally if a criminal was doing, they would have made various demands before issuing an attack,” Professor Buckland said.

“It is playing out how an attack would play out… we could be getting a taste now, even if it is just a dress rehearsal for what a cyber warfare or cyber terror attack would look like.

“This is new for us, it is a good rehearsal.”

The IT issue has affected multiple countries including New Zealand, Japan, India, the US and the United Kingdom.

Multiple businesses have been affected including media organisations such as News Corp’s global operations, the ABC, SBS, Channel 7, Channel 9, and Network 10.

But it has also hit EFTPOS services, airlines, banks and supermarkets, throwing the entire nation into chaos.

Buses have also had to replace trains on some NSW services as the IT outage impacts the train radio network, meaning trains cannot run safely.

Passengers are advised to delay their trips and make alternative travel arrangements. 

Professor Buckland confirmed the outage is “not just a mistake or an error”. 

“This is the worst sort of thing that can happen,” he said.

“If a bad buy brings down your system, they tried really hard and you might have made good defences against it and in spite of that, if they’re well enough resourced, they can overcome it.

“This is just dumb luck catching you…if dumb luck can catch you, a bad guy can catch you.

“This is more serious than a cyber attack, really, because it shows our systems aren’t even proofed against randomness.”

Technology analyst from Monash University Nigel Phair has said this outage is the “biggest the world” has ever seen.

Looking at the “length and outages” and the different sectors affected, Mr Phair said it is easily bigger than any cyber attack.

“It is easily the biggest outage I can think of in the last 20+ years,” he told the ABC.

Tesserent senior partner Mark Jones said he couldn’t think of a bigger IT outage in his career.

“There’s probably been a couple back when I first started in it, but certainly in the last 15-plus years, this is the biggest large-scale issue that I’ve seen by far,” he said.

National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness has said there was no evidence to suggest the outage is a hack or cybersecurity incident.

“I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon,” she wrote on X.

“Our current information is that this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”

She said she continued to engage with key stakeholders.

A spokesperson from the Australian Government confirmed it was working closely with the National Cyber Security Coordinator on the “unfolding outage”. 

“We understand Triple-0 services are currently not affected by this outage,” the statement said.

“The information as it stands is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”

The spokesperson said there was no information to suggest it was a cyber security incident and the government was continuing to engage key stakeholders.

“The National Emergency Mechanism group will meet shortly, co-chaired by the National Emergency Management Agency,” the spokesperson said.