“Australians will not be fined for not submitting their census form last night”.
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Census site was hit by four “denial of service” attacks yesterday of “varying nature and severity”.
Those who hadn’t yet completed their forms would be able to do so with confidence that the information would be secure, he said.
– – – Mudgee’s Facebook response to the crash sums it up…
Nonetheless, Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has launched an investigation into whether any personal information was compromised as a result of these cyber attacks.
Australian security officials were attempting to determine the source of the attacks, officials said.
DDOS attacks are not created to steal data but to frustrate systems – they can be likened to parking a auto across a driveway, rather than stealing a vehicle.
But a handful of Twitter users pointed to digital attack maps that showed no DDoS activity in Australia on Tuesday. “This was not an attack, nor was it a hack”.
Labor wants Michael McCormack, the minister responsible for the botched census, to resign and believes a rerun is not out of the question. But the fourth, as many people were trying to submit their forms during the evening, was large-scale.
Mr Turnbull said the decision to take the site down was done “out of an abundance of caution”.
“This has been the worst run census in Australian history”, said Andrew Leigh, the assistant shadow treasurer.
AUSTRALIA’S first-ever attempt to carry out a census online was foiled after several cyberattacks were made on the website, an official confirmed on Wednesday.
“The points we’re making are the chief statistician job was vacant for a year and the ABS has suffered successive budget cuts”, he said.
After the site was shut down, thousands of people who telephoned the bureau for an explanation were told by a recorded message to call back Wednesday.
Late on Tuesday night, the Bureau conceded the census would remain down at least overnight.
“The census, the ABS, has had five years to get this right”. We will update you in AM.
Australians won’t, at least, have to pay just yet.
An ABS spokesman spoke to The Age yesterday and said some delightfully ironic things about the Census site’s capacity.
Senior cabinet minister Christopher Pyne also cited “overseas hackers” when addressing media earlier this morning – language which was not backed by Michael McCormack.
Australians complained of slow website load times and problems completing the Census online, but the cause of #CensusFail may be something far more serious.
The census was plagued by a growing boycott over fears of potentialsecurity and privacy breaches.
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Australians officially have until September 23 to complete the census, with some two thirds of respondents expected to use the internet rather than paper to complete the survey this year.
