Hackers spoil first online census

Australia's first attempt to conduct a census online was in disarray after several cyberattacks and a hardware failure led to the website being shut down, officials said on Wednesday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics shut down the site to protect data on Tuesday night shortly after a blocking shield failed to stop traffic from a fourth denial-of-service attack that came from somewhere overseas, the government said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the bureau of statistics shut down the site "out of an abundance of caution" and would be reopen it once the bureau, government security agency Australian Signals Directorate and the systems provider IBM were confident that it was safe from cyberattack.