WA Labor is increasing password security.
Camera IconWA Labor is increasing password security. Credit: AP

WA Labor pollies targeted by foreign hackers

Nick ButterlyPerthNow

WA Labor has warned party members across the State that hackers — possibly from Russia and China — have attempted to access party documents and data.

In an email to more than 1000 WA Labor members yesterday, State secretary Matt Dixon warned that over the past few months the party had recorded and detected a number of instances where individuals or “groups outside the organisation” had attempted to break into systems.

It is understood WA Labor saw an increase in attacks on July 23, a week before the super Saturday by-elections.

The alert warned that anyone managing a WA Labor branch email account or another WA Labor email would have their password reset this weekend.

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“Given the nature of our work, we must ensure we are all working to ensure the integrity and security of all our systems,” Mr Dixon said.

“Your help and understanding in this matter is greatly appreciated, we must all do our part to ensure that our campaigning abilities are not affected by these events.”

The attempted hack on WA Labor’s systems comes after Federal authorities warned all political parties to be alert for suspicious cyber activity after suspected Russian attacks on computer systems of the US Democratic Party in the run up to 2016 Presidential elections.

This year the Federal Government set up an electoral integrity task force to guard against hacking, citing the possibility of foreign interference in Australia’s elections.

It is understood that Mr Dixon set up a cybersecurity review of WA Labor’s systems soon after taking on the job this year.

In the space of a month, Labor computers identified a high number of threats, including 123 from the Russian Federation, 117 from the Netherlands, 43 from China and 26 from Ukraine.

Labor has stressed that the electoral roll is not under threat and says the large amounts of data it keeps on individual voters has not been breached.

All major political parties keep vast troves of data on voters gathered after years of door-knocking and monitoring of social media and newspapers.

In his alert, Mr Dixon said WA Labor would suspend a large number of email accounts which might be spreading spam and affecting the wider network.

The party would also increase password security and initiate a broader security review of all systems.