Live news: 'Hang up the phone': O'Neil issues chilling scam alert in wake of Crowdstrike outage

Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil warns Australians 'to be really cautious', saying some people have already been the target of unknown contacts pretending to be from CrowdStrike or Microsoft.

James Dowling

less than 2 min read

July 20, 2024 - 9:53PM

Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil Clare O'Neil asked Australians to beware providing personal or sensitive information to unknown contacts claiming to help resolve ongoing effects of the service shutdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Biden advisers discuss 'when and where' for any exit: NYT

Staff writers

While Joe Biden and his team publicly insist that he is staying in the race, privately people close to him have said that he is increasingly accepting that he may not be able to, and some have begun discussing dates and venues for a possible announcement that he is stepping aside, the New York Times reports.

"One factor that may stretch out a decision: advisers believe that Mr Biden would not want to do it before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel visits Washington on Wednesday US times at the initiative of Republicans to address congress, unwilling to give Mr Netanyahu the satisfaction given their strained relations lately over the Gaza war," the newspaper reported.

Mr Biden "bristles at pressure and those pushing him risk getting his back up and prompting him to remain after all. Two people familiar with his thinking said he had not changed his mind as of Friday afternoon [US time]," it said.

The US website Politico reported allies of Vice President Kamala Harris were trying to ensure she replaced Mr Biden as Demovratic presidential candidate if he stepped aside, quoting "five people involved in the project or with knowledge of the discussions".

These efforts had not been sanctioned by Ms Harris or her team, it said.

Weather delays follow IT disruption at Sydney Airport

Staff writers

Strong winds have disrupted Sydney Airport again after the global IT outage, with travellers warned to brace for further delays.

There were multiple delayed and some cancelled domestic flights departing Sydney Airport on Saturday afternoon due to the weather.

“Due to high winds Airservices Australia are operating our east-west runway, which may cause some delays throughout the afternoon,” a Sydney Airport spokesperson said.

“Passengers are advised to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.”

It comes after airport and airline IT systems were caught in the global outage on Friday, grounding planes and sending thousands of flyers’ travel plans into disarray.

A severe weather warning for multiple parts of the eastern coast of NSW was issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday.

– NewsWire

Full a full report, read this

Liberals pick tourism operator for Ballarat federal seat

James Dowling

Congratulations to Wes McKnight who has been endorsed as the @LiberalAus candidate for Ballarat for the next federal election.

A tourism operator, volunteer with Rotary and community radio, and fourth generation Ballarat local, Wes will be the strong local voice the people of… pic.twitter.com/uT8IyLxfWV
— Senator Sarah Henderson (@SenSHenderson) July 20, 2024

The Liberal Party has announced its candidate for the federal seat of Ballarat. Community organiser Wes McKnight will contest the Victorian regional electorate, which has been held by Labor Transport Minister Catherine King since 2001.

The Ballarat local has worked in tourism, construction and business.

Liberal senator Sarah Henderson appeared at Mr McKnight’s candidacy announcement. “Congratulations to Wes McKnight who has been endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Ballarat for the next federal election,” she said.

“A tourism operator, volunteer with Rotary and community radio, and fourth-generation Ballarat local, Wes will be the strong local voice the people of Ballarat deserve. Whether it’s rising cost-of-living, expensive housing or a lack of infrastructure investment, Labor has callously turned its back on the people of Ballarat. Ballarat deserves better," Senator Henderson said.

In the 2022 federal election, Ms King held the seat with a 17.7 per cent first-preference lead on Liberal candidate Ben Green. Following the allocation of preferences, she had a 2.2 per cent swing in her favour

Ms King came under national attack after she consulted former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce while rival carrier Qatar Airways made a bid to increase its flight capacity in Australia.

An alleged lack of transparency for denying the Qatar request left the Albanese government with a scandal last September.

Mr McKnight’s preselection is the second recent announcement by the Coalition, alongside Nationals candidate Sam Farraway contesting the independent-held seat of Calare in NSW.

The Australian understands Mr Farraway will resign from his current role as a NSW MLC once the Prime Minister calls the next federal election.

The dual Coalition preselections come as the Labor Party endorses candidates through Queensland in a bid to pull seats from the Liberal heartland.

Nats name candidate for Calare

James Dowling

Sam Farraway will contest the regional seat in central NSW at the 2025 federal election. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Tim Pascoe

The Nationals have preselected a new candidate for the electorate of Calare after former Nationals MP Andrew Gee left to sit as an Independent over his party’s opposition to the Indigenous voice to parliament.

NSW parliamentarian Sam Farraway will contest the regional seat in central NSW at the 2025 federal election, as the Nationals seek to reclaim the seat from the crossbench.

“Calare will be a critical seat at the next election that will determine whether Anthony Albanese gets another three years,” Nationals leader David Littleproud said.

“The people of Calare elected a National at the last federal election and the Nationals want to continue to honour that contract, even though the current independent member didn’t because he supported the $450 million ‘Voice’ which could have paid for a quarter of the upgrades to the Great Western Highway.

“It’s important we return integrity to politics in Calare and who the people of Calare elect should reflect the values they voted for and not someone who will cut and run.”

It has not been clarified whether Mr Farraway will leave the upper house as he prepares for his election campaign, but a resignation in the near-future would mark the third recent NSW Coalition departure following the exit of Liberal state MPs Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean.

“As a lifelong resident of the Central West and a former small business owner, this community is more than just my home; it’s where my heart is. The people of Calare have always been central to my work and it would be an enormous privilege to represent our community in the federal parliament,” Mr Farraway said in a statement on Wednesday, prior to preselection.

“In the coming weeks, I look forward to engaging with our local National Party members and the broader community across the Central West to ask for their support to bring about the necessary change and represent the good people of Calare in Canberra.”

Mr Farraway also signposted his commitment to improving the Great Western Highway.

Calare will also be a critical seat in the 2025 election given that it is home to one of the proposed sites for a nuclear power station under the Coalition’s nuclear energy power proposal.

In 2022, Mr Gee left the Nationals stating he could not “reconcile the fact that every Australian will get a free vote on the vitally important issue of the voice, yet National Party MPs are expected to fall into line behind a party position that I fundamentally disagree with”.

He has represented Calare since 2016, and was previously the NSW MP for Orange.

Mr Farraway was contacted for comment.

Australians should reconsider Bangladesh travel: DFA

James Dowling

Australians should reconsider any travel plans to Bangladesh amid ongoing student protests, Foreign Affairs has advised.

The Bangladeshi government declared a national curfew today after student protestors marched on a prison, freeing hundreds. AFP has reported that at least 105 are dead in the chaos.

The country was plunged into a cone of silence after the government intentionally shut down social media and internet services in a bid to prevent the spread of protests. This was exacerbated when students stormed a government TV provider, shutting down the channel.

The Department of Foreign Affairs' SmartTraveller service upgraded the country’s emergency status, calling on Australians to “reconsider your need to travel”.

“There's ongoing widespread student protests and demonstrations in Bangladesh, with violent clashes throughout Dhaka and other cities. A number of deaths have been reported. Authorities have imposed a curfew. Curfew times may change at short notice,” the statement reads.

“There’s an increased police presence, with roadblocks and checkpoints.

“Communications have been severely disrupted, including mobile and internet services and local media. There’s traffic delays and public transport disruptions. Flights could be cancelled at short notice.

“Avoid large gatherings, including protests, demonstrations and rallies. These can turn more violent without warning. You should shelter in a safe place and follow the advice of local authorities.”

The university protests were incited earlier this month when students called for an end to a quota system that reserves 30 per cent of public service jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in the 1971 war of independence.

Agence France-Presse reports at least 300 Bangladeshi police officers were injured during clashes on Friday with demonstrators in multiple locations around the capital Dhaka, according to a police spokesman on Saturday.

“At least 150 police officers were admitted to hospital. Another 150 were given first aid treatment,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP, adding that the force had battled with “hundreds of thousands” of protesters.

Soldiers were out in force Saturday in cities around Bangladesh after another day of lethal clashes between student protesters and police prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to cancel a foreign diplomatic tour.

This week’s violence has killed at least 115 people so far, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, and poses a monumental challenge to Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic government after 15 years in office.

A government curfew went into effect at midnight and the Prime Minister's office asked the military to deploy troops after police again failed to subdue widespread mayhem.

Near-daily marches this month have called for an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

Critics say the scheme benefits children of pro-government groups that back Sheikh Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

The government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists. Since the first deaths on Tuesday, protesters have begun demanding Sheikh Hasina leave office.

– with AFP

Scam threat in wake of Crowdstrike outage: O'Neil

James Dowling

Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil has warned of the ongoing scam threat in the wake of the global CrowdStrike system outage.

Ms O’Neil, speaking at a press conference on Saturday, warned Australians not to provide personal or sensitive information to unknown contacts claiming to help resolve ongoing effects of the service shutdown.

“Some individuals are receiving emails from people who are pretending to be CrowdStrike or who are pretending to be Microsoft, and are indicating that you need to put in bank details to get access to a reboot,” she said.

“Could I ask all Australians to be really cautious over the next few days about attempts to use this for scamming or phishing?

“If someone has called you and is suggesting that they're going to help you — talk you through a reboot of your system — I would hang up the phone.”

Ms O’Neil conceded that Australia’s involvement in globalised systems of trade and communication left us vulnerable to major service disruptions.

“We're in an economy that's digitally interconnected all over the world, and that helps us in a lot of ways. It makes things faster, it makes things more seamless. In many ways, it makes things more efficient,” she said.

“But I think we do have moments like this where we step back and we see that it creates vulnerabilities, too.

“We saw that absolutely during Covid, where the long period of time (in which) globalisation had broken down different barriers became a bit of an issue for lots of countries when they relied on global supply chains.”

'Come forward and account': O’Neil to CrowdStrike

James Dowling

Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil said software provider CrowdStrike is obligated to “come forward and account” for Friday’s global computer outage, but fell short of calling for an official inquiry.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Ms O’Neil reassured Australians that the majority of essential services were functioning at the capacity maintained prior to the service disruption.

“I think there's going to be a time for CrowdStrike to come forward and account for the problem that occurred and the way in which the remediation has occurred,” she said.

“The Australian government, of course, will look at what's occurred post this event.”

The National Coordination Mechanism, a convenor of critical infrastructure and essential service providers established in the wake of the Covid pandemic, met on Friday evening and Saturday morning at the request of the Department of Home Affairs.

Ms O’Neil said another NCM meeting was slated for Sunday, depending on whether or not it was required.

“Will the National Coordination Mechanism meet again? That's just a question of necessity,” Ms O’Neil said.

“We have a plan to meet again tomorrow, but that will just depend on whether people still need the support and advice from other parts of the economy, as we have in the last 24 hours.”

Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory ‘illegal’: UN court

Agency writers

The UN’s top court, in a sweeping opinion on Friday, said that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal” and needed to end as soon as possible.

The advisory opinion by The Hague-based International Court of Justice was immediately slammed as a “decision of lies” by Israel, but welcomed by the Palestinian presidency, which called it “historic”.

The ICJ’s statement, called an “advisory opinion”, is not binding, but it comes amid mounting concern over the death toll and destruction in Israel’s war against Hamas sparked by the group’s brutal October 7 attacks.

It is also likely to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel, whose lawmakers on Thursday voted to oppose a Palestinian state, calling it an “existential threat”.

In The Hague, ICJ presiding judge Nawaf Salam said: “The court has found… that Israel’s continued presence in the Palestinian Territories is illegal.” Israel is “under the obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence as rapidly as possible,” the judge said in its finding, read at the Peace Palace, seat of the ICJ.

The ICJ added that Israel was “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers” from occupied land.

Israel’s policies and practices, including the maintenance of a wall between the territories, “amount to annexation of large parts” of the occupied territory, the court said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the ICJ’s opinion as a “decision of lies”.

“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land – not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor in our ancestral heritage of Judea and Samaria” (the occupied West Bank), " Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki called it a “watershed moment”.

A separate, high-profile case that South Africa has brought before the court alleges that Israel has committed genocidal acts during its Gaza offensive.

– AFP

Trump says spoke with Zelensky, pledges to ‘end the war’

Agency writers

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Picture: AFP

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he had spoken by telephone with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky, and pledged to end the European country’s war with Russia.

“I appreciate President Zelensky for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families,” Trump said in on Friday (Saturday AEST) in a post on his Truth Social platform.

https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1814424885164421439?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Zelensky confirmed the call, adding: “We agreed with president Trump to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.

“I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

A Trump victory in the November US elections would put into question Washington’s continued support for Ukraine, as the country struggles through a third year of fighting against Russian forces.

Trump, who on Thursday formally accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, has repeatedly claimed he would end the war very quickly, without offering details as to how.

Last week, the ex-president hosted at his Florida estate Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.

Trump’s frequent praise for Putin and reluctance to outright criticize the Russian invasion have stirred concerns among Ukraine’s allies that he would force the country into accepting partial defeat.

He has also repeatedly suggested backing away from NATO. His running mate J.D. Vance leads the isolationist wing of congressional Republicans, who argue the United States should drop aid to Ukraine.

– AFP

Crowdstrike CEO defends botch

Jared Lynch

Crowdstrike chief executive George Kurtz said the company – which exists to protect businesses from disruption – has defended the botched upgrade of its flagship Falcon product, which cut off millions of people across the globe.

Asked on CNBC why Crowdstrike didn't opt for a phased approach to the upgrade – which host Jim Cramer said was "irresponsible" – Mr Kurtz said the company "had been doing this a long time" and "not all of our customers were impacted".

"Traditionally goes out in a phased approach. So it initially went out and we started to see some issues, and then pulled it back so not all of our customers are impacted," he said.

"As soon as we saw this issue, which didn't manifest itself before we obviously sent it out, we rolled it back. And you know now we're dealing with the impacted systems."

In other news, an NBN Co spokeswoman said on Saturday morning that the government-owned teclo was not affected by the outage. On Friday afternoon NBN, along with other companies, had recorded a spike in activity from users reporting access issues on outage website Downdetector.