Australia’s domain administrator auDA has revealed that there's no evidence of any breach into its systems after claims made by a cyber outfit 'NoEscape', alleging unauthorised access to its systems.
Last week, auDA was informed of claims from cybercriminals suggesting they had breached its data.
Acting swiftly, the organisation mobilised specialist teams and notified authorities to thoroughly assess the veracity of these claims
A couple of days later, the said cybercriminals disclosed a small amount of data - five screenshots - which they asserted was sourced from auDA's internal systems.
auDA's extensive investigation into these screenshots revealed that these files were not a part of their database.
In fact, the data breach's origin was traced back to an Australian sole trader operating under a local domain name.
auDA has completed its investigation into the alleged cyber incident. It indicates there is no evidence that cyber criminals have accessed auDA systems or have auDA data. Read our full statement here: https://t.co/AzKXoQVnKd
— auDA (@auda) August 21, 2023
What happened?
This sole trader's server was victim to a malware intrusion on August 10, 2023.
As a result of this attack, the data was encrypted and the attackers sought a ransom.
Despite the threats, the sole trader refrained from engaging with the cybercriminals and did not submit to their ransom demands.
Following this, the cyber group approached auDA, falsely claiming to possess the organization's data. auDA was quick to act, launching an immediate investigation.
The conclusive result of the investigation asserts with confidence that there's no evidence of any breach into auDA’s systems or unauthorized access to their data.
On 18 August auDA was alerted to a claim that cyber criminals had accessed auDA data. An update can be found here: https://t.co/G6PJFoE1uU
— auDA (@auda) August 20, 2023