SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s cyber intelligence agency said on Saturday that “malicious websites and unofficial code” had been put online, helping to recover from Friday’s global digital blackout that hit media, retailers, banks and airlines.
Australia was one of many countries affected by the outage that caused global chaos after a botched CrowdStrike software update.
On Saturday, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), Australia’s cyber intelligence agency, reported that “a number of malicious websites and unofficial code are being released claiming to help organisations recover from the widespread outages caused by the CrowdStrike technical incident”.
On its website, the agency says its Cybersecurity Center “strongly encourages all consumers to obtain their technical information and updates only from official CrowdStrike sources.”
Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil said on social media platform X on Saturday that Australians should be “on the lookout for potential scams and phishing attempts”.
Friday’s outage hit the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country’s largest bank, which said some customers were unable to transfer money. National carrier Qantas and Sydney Airport said planes were delayed but still flying.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday night that there were no impacts to critical infrastructure, government services or emergency telephone systems.
CrowdStrike, which previously reached a market cap of approximately $83 billion, is a leading cybersecurity provider with nearly 30,000 subscribers worldwide.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Sam Holmes)
