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Vanuatu suffered a series of cyber attacks in November that the country is still recovering from — and Australian experts are assisting the Pacific nation to get back on its feet.
The first hint that something was wrong came just days after the Pacific island’s new government came to power after elections in July of this year. Some government websites were disrupted, in some cases, redirecting users to sites reportedly hosted by the perpetrators.
By 9 November, however, whole departments had gone dark, effectively crippling the government and related health services. In the capital of Port Vila, local hospitals are resorting to pen and paper to request medicines, rather than sending emails.
Speaking alongside a visiting bipartisan Australian government delegation led by Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Penny Wong, Jotham Napat, Vanuatu’s foreign minister, said the recovery work was ongoing.
“I understand that our technicians have probably recovered about 75 per cent of the operations,” Napat told reporters at a press conference on 13 December. “The matter rests entirely now on our technicians.”
“But I have to also commend the Australian government for providing technical expertise in expediting the process in addressing the issue,” Napat added.
The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that foreign affairs officials have revealed the Australian Cyber Security Centre is assisting the Vanuatu government rebuild its IT infrastructure, but it is unclear what shape this assistance is taking.
When Cyber Security Connect asked what specific assistance was being given, the response from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was brief.
“Cyber security threats and incidents are an increasing challenge for the Pacific family, just as they are for Australia,” a spokesperson told us.
“The Australian government is supporting Vanuatu’s response to a cyber incident. Specific questions about the incident should be directed to the relevant authorities in Vanuatu.”
Much of Vanuatu’s government phones and email services are still offline — https://gov.vu/ is continuing to time out as of time of writing.
There have been reports that a ransom was demanded and subsequently rejected, but this remains unconfirmed. The identity of the hackers remains similarly a mystery, though some locals are pointing fingers at Indonesia, as a response to Vanuatu’s support for West Papuan independence.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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