Global Digital Outage Sparks Surge in Malicious Websites, Warns Australia's Cyber Intelligence Agency

Australia's cyber intelligence agency warned about 'malicious websites and unofficial code' falsely claiming to help with recovery following a global digital outage. The incidents affected various sectors worldwide including media, airlines, and banks. Authorities advise sourcing information only from official CrowdStrike sources.

Australia's cyber intelligence agency issued a warning on Saturday about the emergence of 'malicious websites and unofficial code' online that falsely claim to aid recovery from Friday’s global digital outage. The outage, caused by a botched software update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike, disrupted media, retailers, banks, and airlines around the world, including in Australia.

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) emphasized that affected entities should retrieve their technical information exclusively from official CrowdStrike sources. 'We strongly encourage all consumers to source their technical information and updates from official CrowdStrike sources only,' the agency stated on its website.

Cyber Security Minister Clare O'Neil advised Australians via the social media platform X to be vigilant about potential scams and phishing attempts. The fallout from the outage affected major entities such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and national airline Qantas, with some disruptions reported but critical infrastructure and emergency services remaining unaffected, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.