Corporate watchdog ASIC hit with cyber attack
The corporate watchdog says it has been hit with a cyber attack which allowed hackers to potentially access confidential documents filed by financial institutions.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) outed itself last night as the latest victim of the cyber-attackers who have been causing havoc in recent weeks for corporate users of software that allows people to transfer documents and attachments.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand and law firm Allens have also been attacked through the attack on Accellion software users.
ASIC said in a statement the attack occurred on January 15. In the breach, hackers had accessed the server that contained documents for recent Australian credit licence applications and the attachments for such applications. Those attachments would usually include detailed financial and other confidential documents from applicants.
“While the investigation is ongoing, it appears that there is some risk that some limited information may have been viewed by the threat actor.
“At this time ASIC has not seen evidence that any Australian credit licence application forms or any attachments were opened or downloaded.”
ASIC has been forced to shut down its online application system while it investigates the breach. It is working on establishing alternative arrangements.
It’s another headache for the corporate watchdog which is still without a permanent chairman following James Shipton’s decision to stand aside during Treasury’s investigation into his tax advice payment. The watchdog has also been criticised by the Treasurer over its pursuit of Westpac over alleged breaches of responsible lending laws.
ASIC said it has contacted “impacted parties” to respond to and manage the incident. It is unclear how many applications were accessed.
Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre noted its concerns about Accellion breach a week ago. It said since January 12 it had been working with security partners to assist Australian corporations affected by the Accellion vulnerability.
It urged affected corporation to conduct an audit of its file transfer appliance accounts and to upgrade from the vulnerable legacy product to one of Accellion’s currently supported products.
Sarah Danckert is a business reporter.
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Source: Thanks smh.com