Australia probing apparent hacking of parliament's computer network: Lawmakers

Australian authorities are investigating the apparent hacking of the national parliament's computer network, two senior lawmakers said on Friday, but there was no evidence yet that any data had been accessed or stolen. Tony Smith, the speaker of Australia's lower House of Representatives, and Scott Ryan, president of the upper house Senate, said all lawmakers had been told to reset their passwords as a precaution.

"We have no evidence that this is an attempt to influence the outcome of parliamentary processes or to disrupt or influence electoral or political processes," they said in a joint statement. "Accurate attribution of a cyber incident takes time and investigations are being undertaken in conjunction with the relevant security agencies," they said. It was also too early to tell who might have been behind the apparent attack, the statement said.

(With inputs from agencies.)