BACKGROUND
1 - Those who know me will not be surprised to learn that I T and I are often not on the same platform. I apologise in advance for any solecisms that appear, because of my general ignorance about, and inability with, Information Technology.
2 - I also record thanks for the assistance I received, in preparing this paper, from Simon Raleigh, the Managing Partner at my former firm, Best Hooper; and from Karl Stigger, of Prompt Networks, their I T consultants. I was not able to seek their comments on a draft of this paper, and all errors are my responsibility.
3 - The hack at Best Hooper was one of a series of infiltrations into I T systems across Australia, which occurred on 28 February 2017, according to ACORN – Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network - .
4 - The point of access for these infiltrations was a third party service called Team Viewer. Best Hooper had been using this service for remote access to its system by firm operators, rather than creating a Virtual Private Network (“VPN”). The hackers hacked the service, and from there gained access to Best Hooper’s system, and to those of many other businesses. For Best Hooper, this gave the hackers access to the administration console.
5 - The hackers used this access to encrypt some of the data on the system, making it inaccessible to us, and they deleted one of the accounts systems.
6 - The practical effect of all this, for persons like me, were these.
7 - The landline telephone system would not work. I made any calls on my mobile phone, or from home.
8 - The email system would not work. Some of us brought in our laptops or iPads, and used our private address for emails that couldn’t wait.
9 - The accounting systems were closed down. No payments or receipts could be recorded or issued. How the conveyancers managed, I was not brave enough to ask.
