Victoria vows ransoms from cyber criminals will be ignored as battle to access hospital data continues

Criminal hackers have infiltrated several Victorian government agencies, demanding huge cyber ransom payments from their targets. But state cyber experts have refused to comply, and they advise businesses to do the same.

Cyber predators are attacking Victorian Government systems every 45 seconds.

Hackers demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransoms have infiltrated government computer systems in Victoria.

The Sunday Herald Sun can ­reveal ransomware has infiltrated several government agencies since July last year.

Statewide there is one cyber ­attack on government bodies every 45 seconds. But the names of those targeted remains secret.

Government cyber security principal adviser David Cullen said cyber criminals had demanded tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands — usually to be paid in bitcoin.

Principal Adviser, Cyber Incidents and Emergency Management David Cullen

“I want to stress the point, during our response we do not ever consider paying a ransom,” Mr Cullen said.

“We don’t want organisations paying ransoms either. The statistics prove that there is no guarantee of getting your data back. The second point here is paying ransom puts money into the hands of criminals.

“Instead of paying a ransom, we would rather see organisations spend the money on improving their cyber security.”

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The security of Victoria’s computer systems has come under the spotlight following a damaging ransomware attack on hospitals in September in Gippsland and Geelong. The state’s “paramedic cyber team” received a ransom note during the ordeal but refused to negotiate. Some of the network and data affected still cannot be accessed.

Mr Cullen confirmed a handful of serious attacks on other government agencies but declined to reveal which ones. Major infrastructure including power and water had been protected.

Victoria is protected under a $17.6 million cyber fund package, due to expire next financial year.

The majority of cyber attacks are considered low-level and done simply for hackers to gain notoriety.

Among larger attacks, ransomware — where hackers infect and lock down systems — are the worst.

This is followed by ‘denial of service attacks’ where the network is flooded with too much traffic which causes servers to shut down.