Australian minister Michael McCormack says the Census website was not breached despite confirming it was shut down due to four attempted denial of service attacks.
Senior cabinet minister Christopher Pyne addressed the media on Wednesday morning, citing the overseas cyber “attacks”.
Mr McCormack says the denial of service works to block people from accessing a website and the website was shutdown as a precaution.
“No census data was compromised and no data was lost,” Mr McCormack said.
According to RMIT University Professor Mark Gregory, increased traffic could be the reason that the site crashed and the reported attack attempts are still under investigation.
Law academics push to decriminalise abortion
An impending bill to decriminalise abortion has been brought to the NSW Government’s attention, with 100 law and criminology academics supporting the cause. The academics have signed a letter which addresses the call for privacy zones around abortion service providers and clinics. UNSW law professor in charge of organising the letter, Luke McNamara, said community expectations should play a large part in criminal law. Mehren Faruqi, member of the Greens upper house, is planning to introduce the legislation in the coming months.
Body of mum found two years later
The body of a 32-year-old mum from Belmont has been found after almost two years of being missing. The police will address the media on Thursday, fearing she has met with “foul play” and her death has been announced as suspicious. Carly McBride’s remains were discovered near a property in the Hunter region of NSW on Sunday. Ms McBride disappeared in 2014 after visiting her daughter at her ex-partner’s house.
No signs of missing camper
A camper suffering from a condition requiring medication has been missing from the Hawkesbury area for four days and is still yet to be found. Tiemuzhen Chalaer was last seen on Sunday morning but his disappearance was not reported to the police until Sunday night. Police search and rescue teams have searched the campsite, including the bushland surrounding the area, but have not found any traces of Mr Chalaer. Detective Inspector Suzanne Rode-Sanders says the search so far has been unsuccessful.
“Obviously the longer the search goes on, the less chance of finding him alive,” Ms Rode-Sanders said. – Compiled from online sources by Vivien Wickham
Screen grab from Census Australia’s Youtube.
About the author
I am a budding 21-year-old student journalist at Macleay College. Since finishing high school I have worked for three years in the retail industry and am currently working in the childcare industry. My true passion is for writing and I hope to continue my progress and pursue my dream of becoming an editor.
