Home›Questions on Notice›QoN 560

❓ A WA parliamentary question seeks details on cybersecurity spending and incidents within the Department of Agriculture and Food, the Department of Regional Development, and nine Regional Development Commissions. The response reveals a virus, a cyber-attack, and no illegal file access within the Department of Agriculture and Food.

AnsweredQoN 560Legislative Assembly

Asked

25 May 2017

Member

Mr Z.R.F. Kirkup

Portfolio

Regional Development; Agriculture and Food; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade

QuestionView source ↗

In respect of the Minister’s portfolio responsibilities for departments, agencies or publicly owned corporations: (a) how much money was spent on anti-virus, network security, firewall or anti-malware software in the last financial year; (b) from 17 March 2017 to 19 May 2017, have there been any reported instances of: (i) Viruses: (A) if so, what systems were affected, for how long and was there any downtime (in hours) for each system; (ii) Malware: (A) if so, what systems were affected, for how long and was there any downtime (in hours) for each system; (iii) Cyber-attack: (A) if so, what systems were affected, for how long and was there any downtime (in hours) for each system; and (B) was this attack reported to the WA or Australian Federal Police? If not, why not; (iv) DNS attack: (A) if so, what systems or websites were affected, for how long and was there any downtime (in hours) for each system; and (B) was this attack reported to the WA or Australian Federal Police? If not, why not; (v) Infected websites: (A) if so, what websites were infected / hacked, for how long and was there any downtime (in hours) for each system; (c) From 17 March 2017 to 19 May 2017 have any network files been illegally accessed by external individuals or organisations: (i) if so, what files were illegally accessed and when; (ii) if so, were the WA Police or Australian Federal Police informed of this illegal access; and (iii) if not, why not?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered

29 June 2017

Responded by

Minister representing the Minister for Regional Development; Agriculture and Food; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade

Response time

9 days

Department of Agriculture and Food
(a)        Please refer to clause a) of Legislative Assembly Question on Notice 549
(b)       (i)        Yes
(A)       Single user, desktop system, 10 days while forensic investigation occurred, no downtime.
(ii)       None other than the above.
(A)       See response to (b)(i)(A).
(iii)      Yes
(A)       One user, two days, no downtime.
(B)       No. Did not reach the threshold for notification (minor incident).
(iv)      No
(A-B)   Not applicable
(v)       No
(A)       Not applicable
(c)        No
(i-iii)    Not applicable
Department of Regional Development and nine Regional Development Commissions
(a)   Please refer to clause a) of Legislative Assembly Question on Notice 549
(b)   – (c) [Please refer to Tabled Paper No. ]

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