Australia Census – Digital Security and Privacy Concerns

Census is the systematic procedure of recording information about the population of a particular country. Previously, census was done manually and took a lot of time. With advancements in technology, census can now be done easily using online forms. The process takes place every five years in Australia. Census in Australia took place on August 09, 2016. The moment the online form was uploaded on the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the bureau experienced a huge turn of unexpected events.

The ABS & Census websites are currently experiencing an outage. We’re working to restore the service. We will keep you updated. Thank you.

— Census Australia (@ABSCensus) August 9, 2016

Millions of individuals went online to be a part of the census only to find out that the website is slow and inaccessible, just minutes after the census began. This resulted in great confusion for the masses and a nightmare for the Bureau since it was undergoing a systematic DDoS attack. Twitter was flooded with #CensusFail hashtags but besides the flooding of Twitter, consequences just might be far more serious.

Have tried two devices now. Your census will load on neither. #CensusFail #MyCensus

— Caty (@catymaccaty) August 9, 2016

#CensusFail disaster. Failure to properly scope server and/or communications. #wasteoftime pic.twitter.com/tmBYkOTTeQ

— THE Russell (@THE_Russell) August 9, 2016

The Australian Bureau of Statistics claims that there was a large scale DDoS attack that took place on the census website and the online form, designed to sabotage the 2016 census. A DDoS attack attempts to block anyone from accessing a website by sending fake traffic, temporarily or permanently shutting it down, all the while compromising any data the site holds. The bureau urged Australians to “go online on August 9th” to complete the census but it appears that the call was heard overseas too.

The census site faced four DDoS attacks. The first three DDoS attack caused severe disruptions leading to the Bureau shutting down the website, while the fourth attack was to compromise the integrity of the data. This resulted in only 2.33 million forms to be submitted. The network firewalls could only do much as they were equipped with minimal security protocols.

After the fourth attack, just after 7:30pm, the ABS took the precaution of closing down the system to ensure the integrity of the data.

— Census Australia (@ABSCensus) August 9, 2016

This is a major blow for census and the Bureau, as questions over privacy concerns have skyrocketed. This begs the question: will governments around the world face similar issues when shifting integral systems to an online platform? Possibly, yes.

With that being said, who’s to say the data on the Australian bureau of statistics website didn’t get stolen? Online privacy and security is always under threat unless you adopt the use of strict precautionary measures such as the use of a VPN. So, how does a VPN protect your privacy and secure you from attacks online? Good question. A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a network technology that secures your network connection over a public or private network.

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