Australian authorities investigate attempted cyber-attack on parliament

Authorities in Australia say they are investigating an attempt to hack into its parliament's computer network.

In a joint statement, Scott Ryan and Tony Smith – parliament’s presiding officers – reported a “security incident on the parliamentary computing network” occurred overnight and into Friday morning.

No data breach has been reported, and they said all passwords had been reset out of “an abundance of caution”.

“Similarly, we have no evidence that this is an attempt to influence the outcome of parliamentary processes or to disrupt or influence electoral or political processes,” they said.

Lawmakers said there was "no evidence" that information had been accessed or stolen, but politicians' passwords have been reset as a precaution.

Local cyber-security experts have suggested the hack likely came from a foreign state.

Australian PM Scott Morrison said he didn't intend to comment in depth on "the source or nature of this".

He said there was "no suggestion" that government agencies or departments had been targeted. MPs and their staff use the parliament network to store emails, among other data.

However, opposition leader Bill Shorten described the incident as a "wake-up call". It also sparked commentary from other lawmakers.

The Australian government has faced a number of cyber-attacks in recent years, some of which have been attributed in local media to nations such as China.

In 2015 and 2016, there were high-profile attacks on the government's weather and statistics agencies. In 2011, senior Australian ministers also had their email systems breached.