{ "id": "4183dff8-3db6-407e-b851-84aed846a4ad", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:10:21.83575Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:21:09.379144Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "afb026dc891a75843e307a88620e47550b37e9b2", "title": "Iranian criminals suspected in Navy shipbuilder cyber attack and extortion attempt", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 39792, "plain_text": "Iranian criminals suspected in Navy shipbuilder cyber attack and\r\nextortion attempt\r\nBy Exclusive by political reporter Jane Norman\r\nPublished: 2018-11-12 · Archived: 2026-04-05 17:02:13 UTC\r\nIranian hackers are believed to be responsible for a cyber security breach and extortion attempt on Australia's\r\nbiggest defence exporter.\r\nKey points:\r\nShip designs were accessed in the cyber attack on Austal\r\nNot known whether the hackers worked for the Iranian Government or not\r\nAn Iranian-based hack attack on Australian universities took place this year\r\nPerth-based shipbuilder Austal earlier this month revealed an \"unknown offender\" had hacked into its computer\r\nsystems, accessing staff email addresses and phone numbers as well as ship drawings and designs.\r\nSome of the information was then offered for sale on the dark web in an apparent extortion attempt.\r\nThe ABC can reveal the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has determined the attack was most likely\r\ncarried out by Iranian hackers.\r\nThe head of the ACSC, Alastair MacGibbon, would not confirm the nationality but said the hackers failed to steal\r\nsensitive information.\r\n\"We don't like anyone breaking into any type of business, particularly defence contractors, but I can say that\r\nnothing of national security significance was taken,\" he said.\r\nMr MacGibbon likened the attack to a \"ram-raid\", suggesting the hackers stole as much information as they could\r\nuntil they were detected and shut out.\r\n\"The fact that this material was put on the dark web to sell to the highest bidder would have to suggest it's a\r\ncriminal matter,\" he said.\r\nIt is unclear whether the group was linked to the Iranian Government, but the breach was detected in mid-October,\r\naround the time Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Australia would review its support for the Iran nuclear\r\ndeal.\r\nHowever, Mr MacGibbon played down any link, saying it did not appear the breach was in response to any\r\nGovernment announcement.\r\nA spokesperson for the Iranian Embassy in Canberra strongly denied his country was responsible, adding Iran\r\n\"had high respect for Australia\".\r\nhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/iranian-hackers-suspected-in-austal-cyber-breach/10489310\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nAccording to the US intelligence community, Iran is a leading cyberspace adversary, along with China, Russia and\r\nNorth Korea.\r\n\"Russia, Iran, and North Korea are testing more aggressive cyberattacks that pose growing threats to the United\r\nStates and US partners,\" a 2018 threat report presented to Congress in the US says.\r\nThe head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, Fergus Hanson, said\r\nwhile China offered the greatest cyber threat to Australia, Iran was opportunistic and known for its retaliatory\r\nattacks.\r\n\"Iran is less frequently mentioned in the Australian media but it certainly has a sophisticated capability and in\r\ninternational terms it's one of the major threat actors in this space,\" he said.\r\nGrowing threat from Iranian cyberattacks\r\nEarlier this year, dozens of Australian universities were targeted by an Iran-based \"spear-phishing campaign\" as\r\npart of an attempt to steal intellectual property and academic research.\r\nBut that is the only publicly acknowledged Iranian cyberattack on an Australian institution.\r\nMr Hanson said if an Iranian group was responsible for the Austal breach, it was likely to be used by the country's\r\ndefence industry.\r\n\"Several of Iran's rivals have bought ships from Austal … so there would be an incentive for Iran to\r\nhave a better understanding of those ships' capabilities,\"\r\nhe said.\r\n\"And if Iran's looking to build ships, stealing those designs would also be handy.\"\r\nAustal has built ships for the Australian Navy for more than a decade, but with shipyards in the US and the\r\nPhilippines, it has become a major global player.\r\nAccording to its website, the shipbuilder has designed and built more than 300 vessels for more than 54 countries\r\nincluding Oman, Kuwait, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.\r\nSources have told the ABC that Austal notified the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) only after the breach and\r\ntheft were made public on Twitter.\r\nThe Federal Government has recently started attributing cyberattacks to the countries responsible and Mr Hanson\r\nsaid that should continue.\r\n\"If you do have evidence that a country is targeting you then, in most cases, it makes a lot of sense to attribute and\r\nimpose costs on countries that do undertake major cyberattacks,\" he said.\r\nIn its statement to the ASX, Austal said the data breach had been limited to Australia and had not affected its US\r\noperations.\r\nhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/iranian-hackers-suspected-in-austal-cyber-breach/10489310\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\nThe ACSC and Australian Federal Police are still investigating the breach and extortion attempt.\r\nSource: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/iranian-hackers-suspected-in-austal-cyber-breach/10489310\r\nhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/iranian-hackers-suspected-in-austal-cyber-breach/10489310\r\nPage 3 of 3", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "ETDA" ], "references": [ "https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/iranian-hackers-suspected-in-austal-cyber-breach/10489310" ], "report_names": [ "10489310" ], "threat_actors": [], "ts_created_at": 1775434221, "ts_updated_at": 1775791269, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/afb026dc891a75843e307a88620e47550b37e9b2.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/afb026dc891a75843e307a88620e47550b37e9b2.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/afb026dc891a75843e307a88620e47550b37e9b2.jpg" } }