Shipbuilder Austal Suffers Data Breach In Cyber Attack

Australian shipbuilder Austal has reported that its operations in Australia were hit a cyber attack resulting in a data breach. The company which makes defence vessels for several countries has said that no sensitive information was taken, and that ongoing Australian operations have not been affected by the attack.

Making the revelation in a report to the Australian stock exchange, Austal noted that only emails and phone numbers of staff members along with some ship design drawings may have been taken.

After the breach, the hacker is said to have offered to sell some of the stolen materials on the internet. An attempt to extort the company was also made, but Austal has said that it has no intention of responding to the threat.

Representation Image – Credits: Altairisfar /wikipedia.org

The integrity of Austal’s affected data systems has been restored by its technology team and further security measures are being put in place to avoid further such cyber attacks.

The company stated that it has informed a few stakeholders who may have been affected by the breach.

The incident is being investigated by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and also the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The company’s US operations were not affected by the breach.

Source: Maritime Shipping News