Officials Confirm Senate Information Was Not Accessed by Hackers in 2021 Incident

Senate officials revealed that in January 2021, they were informed about phishing emails targeting parliamentary accounts, which were later linked to hackers working on behalf of Beijing.

While some of these emails managed to bypass firewalls and reach senators’ inboxes, none were opened, and the attackers did not gain access to any information on Senate servers, according to the officials.

During an interview with a federal commission investigating foreign interference earlier this month, the officials detailed the events. A summary of the discussion was presented during inquiry hearings on Tuesday.

The officials mentioned that senators’ offices were promptly alerted to ensure the deletion of any such emails, and the Senate’s information services directorate conducted a search to confirm the removal of these emails from the database.

It was revealed earlier this year that some MPs and senators faced cyberattacks from hackers due to their association with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which advocates for accountability from Beijing.

At the beginning of 2021, the Senate’s information services directorate was unaware that the attack might have been orchestrated by Chinese hackers.

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Notwithstanding, the Senate officials informed the commission that even if they had known about the attack’s source earlier, it would not have altered the directorate’s swift response.

David Vatcher, Senate information services director, testified at the inquiry on Tuesday, stating, “We take all these threats seriously, and we respond promptly.”

Vatcher noted that while the number of attacks linked to foreign states is rising, they constitute a minority of the total attacks faced by the Senate.

However, Vatcher cautioned that given the current tense geopolitical climate, it would be naive to assume that these attacks will not continue to escalate in both number and sophistication.