Department hit by continual cyber attacks

The computer systems of the federal employment department comes under constant cyber attack, a Senate committee has been told.

"The department and its gateway receives attacks continually," the department's chief information officer Stephen Moore said on Thursday.

But he noted any significant organisation, especially in the government, was a target.

Threats, which include emails with malicious content, are stopped by firewalls.

There are "hundreds of thousands a month", Mr Moore said.

People also attempt to exploit the department's web systems, such as its online Jobs Board.

"(It) is always getting hit with people trying to inject code and get around the controls that are in that system," he said.

But Mr Moore was pleased to report that since 1998 the department's system had to be turned off and on again just twice.