While the head of the Australian Bureau of Statistics David Kalisch is claiming that hackers forced the closure of the organisation's website on census night, there is no evidence to show that any such attack occurred.

The website digitalattackmap.com tracks events of this nature but as security pro Matthew Hackling posted last night, the site detected no unusual activity in Australia at all.

Hackling commented in a tweet: "Hmmm. Nothing unusual DDoS wise for Australia and yesterday #censusfail."

hmmm. nothing unusual DDoS wise for australia and yesterday #censusfail pic.twitter.com/x7rQ0jzI1F — Matthew Hackling (@mhackling) August 9, 2016

The North American Network Operators Group is normally aware of big DDoS attacks but there is no mention of any attack on their regular mailing list either.

Given the ABS' boast that the site could handle a million form submissions every hour, it would have taken an attack of some magnitude to bring operations to a halt.

But the mainstream media appears to have swallowed the ABS spin hook, line and sinker, with the ABC's Caitlyn Gribbin spouting off on News 24 that foreign hackers had been responsible.

Kalisch has been quoted as saying that the Australian Signals Directorate has been asked to track the source of the attack. He might as well start looking for an unicorn.

But right now, he may well need a bath and lie down, after first wiping off the copious amounts of egg on his face.