Simon O'Connor: What was suspected, is now exposed

While the hacking of Parliament's computer systems by China does not surprise me, it is something we must take very seriously. Is this perhaps the wake-up call New Zealand needs?

Some may find it extraordinary to think that New Zealand’s largest trading partner thought it perfectly acceptable to hack into the heart of our democratic system - the computer servers of Parliament. That China has done so is as deeply worrying as it is symbolic. While this is the first time our intelligence services have acknowledged an attempt on our parliamentary computer systems by the Chinese Community Party (CCP), it is certainly not the first time Chinese state-sponsored cyber-attacks have occurred here in New Zealand. These attacks are frequent and wide in their application.