Notes

Australia is Facing another Global Bug

The COVID-19 virus is affecting every aspect of our lives, and another virus is in the wild.



Businesses and hospitals that have employees who work at a distance or are on the move are at the forefront of this epidemic.



The growing Australian Immunisation Register as well as the Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme portals all needed an urgent upgrade over the Christmas break.



They are winning the war against intruders thus far.



"We're not aware of any information being shared by third party vendors and we continue to collaborate with developers to make the transition," Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen told AAP.



However, a quick check by experts for intrusions might not be enough to safeguard against malicious attacks.



As well as posing an "real and present danger", intruders are nesting deep inside software systems and could lurk for years Cyber detectives warn.



Cyber-attacks are on the rise as our lives and our livelihoods increasingly become online, but the so-called Log4j vulnerability is particularly noxious.



A vulnerability in a component of software can affect the Log4j Java system that millions of Australians use, often unknowingly at home and work computers, mobile phones or other seemingly secure apps.



Microsoft recommends that you conduct regular reviews and scans to detect new messages and malicious code.



Microsoft states that "Due to the many software and services affected as well as the speed of updates, it's anticipated that this will result in an extended period of time before remediation, which will require ongoing, sustainable vigilance."



This week this week, the United States announced that it will sue companies that do not have protection against the bug or its variants.



Australia could likely take this action if its laws allowed this kind of decisive action.



According to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the vulnerability is being exploited by a growing number of attackers, posing an extremely risk to millions of consumer products, enterprise applications, and web applications.



China-based groups Hafnium and Aquatic Panda rapidly went on the attack a few days after the flaw was revealed in December. The same was the case for hackers from Iran, experts claim.



"When vulnerabilities are discovered and exploited, it risks the loss or disclosure of personal information, financial loss and other irreparable harms," the FTC warned in a blog post.



The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warns that no single step will fix the problem.



Under US law there is a duty to act, and that includes Australian organisations operating in the United States.



The FTC declares that it will use its "full legal authority" to take action against companies that do not take reasonable steps to safeguard consumer data from exposure as a result of Log4j, or similar known vulnerabilities in the future.



When the credit company Equifax did not patch an issue that was well-known and exposed the personal information of 147 million consumers they had to pay a settlement of $US700 million ($A974 million)



Back home, Services Australia is responsible for the personal information of millions of Australians but it is also linked to hospitals, aged care facilities and other service providers whose systems need to be flexible but are typically fragile.



Intruders have uncovered remote access software that can access applications and data, including MobileIron products in Australia.
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The Australian Industry Group has warned that a large number of apps could be at risk, affecting individuals, businesses and supply chains for businesses.



Ai Group states that a hole in their security could let malicious actors to create malicious "logs" which could be used to gain control of data and computer systems.



The bug and its variants are being addressed by the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, and New Zealand.



The UK's National Health Service warned that the Log4Shell vulnerability in MobileIron products was being targeted and exploited.



Organisations and software developers, including Java's Apache and MobileIron have acted quickly.



Apple's iCloud and the platform for distribution of games Steam and Minecraft have also patched up holes.



Australia's Employment Minister Stuart Robert has encouraged all businesses to take this issue seriously.



He added, "It's a serious virus, serious malware"



"I've been urging all businesses at a degree of urgency to make sure their servers, especially their web servers and any of their remote access devices through MobileIron are appropriately patched and they should be doing it now."



Australian businesses, universities, and all facets of government have been warned to, at least, take basic steps to scan and update software to safeguard themselves.



Microsoft claims to have seen a number of attackers add these vulnerabilities to existing malware kits and tactics. These include keyboards that are used for hands-on attacks.



"Organisations may not realise their environments are already compromised," the firm says.



"At this moment, customers should be aware that the availability of scan and exploit codes is a real and immediate danger to their systems."



Many Australian aged health and care providers make use of taxpayer funds through the ageing business-to-government (B2G), software. They were warned to take action, but may not have received the notice.



Services Australia advised that customers should switch to web-based services as soon as possible in an email to developers in December.



"The agency is committed to moving away from the aging technology to adapt for online claims as soon as it is possible.



"This is becoming more urgent due to the emerging global Java vulnerability."



The agency blocks approximately 14 million emails that are suspicious each month, and must constantly perform security audits and upgrades, as well as patches to fix bugs, the federal parliamentary committee was able to hear last year.



Services Australia is currently working closely with the Australian Cyber Security Centre to tackle the threat that is evolving.



"Services Australia will continue to implement mitigation and detection guidelines as advised by the ACSC," Mr Jongen said.



"The ACSC is working with all vendors in order to find and eliminate Log4j weaknesses.


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