Cyber Attacks Impacts Two Major Australian Companies Including Leaked Passports

Analysis of data released by a cyber actor reveals copies of passports from one of these companies could have been leaked onto the dark web.

A hooded man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

Two major Australian companies have been struck by cyber attacks including an automotive dealer and a probiotic company.

Large car dealership Eagers Automotive and fermented milk drink producer Yakult Australia have fallen victim to cyber incidents in December.

Eagers Automotive, an Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed company, requested a trading halt on Dec. 27 after a “cyber incident” caused an outage in both Australia and New Zealand.

At this stage, the company is still investigating whether the cyber incident has led to any unauthorised gain of personal information.

The company said most of its dealerships remain open and are continuing to trade, but the operational impact of the outage varies between regions and business units.

“The company has experienced a cyber incident resulting in an outage that is disrupting parts of the company’s operations across Australia and New Zealand,” the company said in a statement to the market on Dec. 29.

“The disruption is primarily impacting our ability to finalise transactions for certain new vehicles which have been sold and ready for delivery and some aspects of the company’s service and parts operations.

“The financial impact of the cyber incident for the year ending Dec. 31, 2023, is expected to primarily relate to the deferral in the recognition of some transactions across the last 5 days of December 2023.”

The automotive dealer said they immediately started an investigation, with the help of external experts, to understand the extend of the incident as soon as it was detected.

“A primary focus of the investigation is to understand whether any personal information has been impacted. This remains under close review. Should our investigations reveal any authorised access to personal information, the company will notify affected individuals in accordance with our obligations.”

Eagers shares are down slightly today, currently trading at $14.51, down 1.02 percent on the ASX at the time of writing.

The company has a market value of $3.73 billion (US$2.55 billion) based on the current share price.

Yakult Australia Cyber Incident

Meanwhile, Yakult Australia is investigating a cyber incident involving the leaking of more than 95 GB of data onto the dark web.

Cybercrime actor DragonForce has claimed responsibility for the incident and revealed plans to leak the data.

The data includes several business documents, credit applications, employee records, identity documents including passports and spreadsheets, analysis by BleepingComputer revealed.

In a statement on the website, Yakult said they are working with “cyber incident experts” to investigate the extent of the incident.

The company is continuing the investigate and will provide further updates when more information is available, the company said.

3D printed models of people working on computers and padlock in front of a displayed CYBER ATTACK words and binary code in a picture illustration taken on Feb. 1, 2022. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

“We are currently investigating which data and systems may have been impacted. Our offices in Australia and New Zealand remain open and continue to operate,” Yakult said.

“Yakult Australia has notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner New Zealand.”