Labor has described Payman's linking of a Haines-style attack to staffing allocation as outrageous. Payman has asked whether the Prime Minister is waiting for what happened to Helen Haines to happen again. Shoebridge has called for ethical Australian AI after a cyber threat warning. Lambie says Hanson has not personally apologised over a cartoon. A former Rio Tinto boss is set to lead a defence procurement watchdog, and the Farrer independent spent $1.7 million on a byelection campaign.
Australia's top cyber spy, Abigail Bradshaw, has warned the country to prepare for more frequent disruptions to everyday services as AI-powered cyber attacks increase. She said advanced AI models have changed the threat facing Australia. The Australian Signals Directorate has also detailed its operation against the malware Amadey, which criminals used to steal data from 180,000 computers worldwide, including in Australia. The agency said it disconnected the criminal controller from those victims and destroyed about 4.8 million files stolen from Australians. Tauri Gregory said AI is increasing attacks but also helping defenders.
Local businesses in The Hills Shire can access free digital skills training through a new partnership with the Australian School of Employment. The program offers online workshops and webinars on digital marketing, websites, AI, cyber security and business automation. Mayor Michelle Byrne said nearly 98 per cent of the area's more than 27,000 businesses are small. Participants also get access to the Hills Digital Learning Hub, which has short video tutorials. Owners can book up to five hours of one-on-one mentoring for $110, against a value of $1,995.
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A digital skills program has opened for businesses in The Hills Shire. The Australian School of Employment delivers online workshops and webinars covering digital marketing, websites, AI, cyber security and automation. A Hills Digital Learning Hub offers short video tutorials and checklists. Owners can also book up to five hours of one-on-one mentoring at a discounted rate of $110, against a listed value of $1,995. Mayor Michelle Byrne said the Hills area has more than 27,000 businesses, almost 98 per cent of them small. Registration is through the council website.
A Canberra teenage boy has appeared in the ACT Children's Court over an alleged knife attack on a fellow student at Lanyon High School. Police say the boy stabbed the other student in the hand and punched him, including in the head. He was arrested on Thursday night after police say he ran from the scene. He faces several charges, and a bail application is due to be heard on Tuesday. ACT Education Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith apologised for a delay in messages to parents, which she linked to a government cyber security response that took the school's system offline.
Hacking attempts have risen to millions after two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a widely used programming language, were made public. Cloud services firm Cloudflare said attempts jumped from thousands before the announcement to millions shortly after. Global agencies, including Australia's Australian Signals Directorate, have urged websites to patch their code urgently. Developers have released fixes and told users to update immediately. Some governments have taken websites offline as a precaution, and several Asian governments have ordered cyber security inspections.
A critical flaw in PHP, a programming language used by about 70 per cent of the world's websites, has disrupted Australian government and corporate networks. The Australian Signals Directorate, the nation's lead cyber defence agency, was among those affected on Wednesday. The flaw was first uncovered by an OpenAI tool, and threat actors are believed to be exploiting it worldwide. Patches are now available for two PHP vulnerabilities. Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres said no Australian Government websites had been breached. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called for access to frontier AI models for cyber defence.
The NSW Government has temporarily taken down several official websites over a critical global security flaw in the PHP scripting language. Cyber Security NSW is working with state departments and agencies to apply updates and security patches. Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Jihad Dib said no NSW Government agencies had reported information breaches to Cyber Security NSW so far. The Australian Cyber Security Centre has issued a Critical Alert over two severe PHP vulnerabilities that could let unauthenticated attackers run malicious code on web servers.
Industry Minister Tim Ayres has said no Australian government websites have been breached after a serious security flaw was discovered in a widely used programming language. The live coverage follows the day's developments on the issue.
Northern Territory businesses can apply for grants of up to $20,000 a year to help pay for cyber security improvements. Round 2 of the Cyber Invest Business Program doubles the previous $10,000 limit and covers up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs. Funding is available for cyber foundations, cloud security, Essential Eight uplift and managed cyber security services. Applicants can choose a Territory-based provider. Applications close on 15 January 2027, or earlier if funding runs out.
Amazon is set to tell a parliamentary committee that Australia must act quickly to build home-grown artificial intelligence skills. The company suggested an AI stream in skilled visa pathways and tech literacy lessons from kindergarten. Its own analysis found fewer than one in five employers felt their workforces were ready to adopt AI. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute warned that AI gives individuals cyber-attack powers once held only by nations. The consumer watchdog will call for more protection against AI-driven surveillance pricing.
Darebin City Council has selected TechnologyOne as its technology partner for Digital Darebin, a major program to modernise its systems. The council chose TechnologyOne's OneCouncil platform after a full evaluation, citing its functionality, local government experience and value for money. The program aims to replace ageing systems, strengthen cyber security and financial management, and reduce manual processes. CEO Anne Howard said the aim is to make services simpler for staff and better for residents. Implementation will take place over several years, with a staged approach to support staff through the change.
Origin Energy's chairman says there is no evidence that customer data stolen in a July hack has been published on the internet or the dark web. Hackers accessed the data of roughly 900,000 customers and former customers, including names, addresses and dates of birth. Up to 60 full bank account numbers and about 100 ID document numbers were also accessed. Chairman Scott Perkins urged affected customers to stay alert to scams. Origin faced criticism for not informing customers until July 22, after first becoming aware of a possible breach on July 2.
Hackers raised temperatures on fridges and freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets, spoiling food worth millions of euros. Les Mousquetaires said fridges at about 150 of its stores were heated to 50 degrees Celsius overnight. French authorities are investigating, and a software vulnerability linked to Danish company Danfoss has been identified. Australian cyber security experts say supermarkets using similar centralised systems could face similar attacks, though the exact method remains unconfirmed.
Australian universities face growing pressure to replace legacy authentication tools, which are costly to maintain and hard to secure. Education accounted for 36 per cent of data breaches reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in 2025. It cites Flinders University, which consolidated around 250 systems onto one platform and cut password reset requests to under 400 a year. It also recommends governing AI agents on campus as strictly as human users.
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Software engineer Samuel Spencer has warned that Canberra's handling of sensitive government data is a national scandal. He says budget, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and parliamentary travel information is kept on outdated spreadsheet software, leaving it open to misuse. The Department of Finance says it does not use Excel to manage special accounts or special appropriations. It says its internal documents are protected by established security controls. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he has a high degree of confidence in how information is managed.
St Andrew's Hospital in Adelaide has reported a data breach affecting an undisclosed number of individuals. The hospital has notified affected people and federal privacy and cyber security agencies. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he expects to be briefed on the breach later on Thursday. The hospital's chief information officer, Nathan Crettenden, said an internal investigation identified that a subset of data from its servers was downloaded.
