Australia-based shipbuilder Austal confirmed that its Australian business has been hit by a cyber attack which breached the company’s data management systems.
“Following the breach the offender purported to offer certain materials for sale on the internet and engage in extortion,” Austal said, adding that it would not respond to the extortion attempts.
The company informed that a small number of stakeholders who were potentially directly impacted have been informed, however, the data breach has had no impact on Austal’s ongoing operations. The company also confirmed that its US business was not affected by the breach.
Austal’s information systems and technology team has restored the security and integrity of the company’s data systems and are implementing additional security measures to prevent further breaches.
The matter has been referred to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for investigation.