The Australian Bureau of Statistics believes that it's website had to be shut down on Census night (9th August) because there was a series of hacking attempts on their website. It would seem that the hackers were deliberately doing this to sabotage the National survey.
This has left thousands of Australians frustrated over repeated attempts to complete their Census form in time.
David Kalisch from ABS said this morning the census website had been attacked by hackers four times and was shut down as a precaution after the fourth attack.
"It was an attack, and we believe from overseas," he said.
The matter is being investigated by The Australian Signals Directorate but according to Mr Kalisch it is going to be very difficult to trace the source of the hackers. To ensure the integrity of the data the website had to be shut down on the fourth hacking attempt. He further added that from "The scale of the attack, it was quite clear it was malicious".
The ABS is taking steps to remedy these issues and it says that Australians can be reassured that their data is safe.
The Census website was not available this morning.
