Loren Elliott/Reuters

A “sophisticated state-based actor” has been attempting to hack a wide range of Australian organisations for months and had stepped up its efforts recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

We know it is a sophisticated state-based cyber actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting

Morrison said there were not a lot of state actors that could launch this sort of attack, but Australia will not identify which country was responsible.

Two government sources said the nature of the recent attacks matches a 2019 attack on Australia’s parliament and three largest political parties.

China hack

In March last year, Reuters reported that China was responsible for a hack on Australia’s parliament and three largest political parties.

A US security ally, Australia strained ties with its largest trading partner, China, by pushing for an international inquiry into the source and spread of Covid-19 that first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.