Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

The Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) is warning organizations of an ongoing malware campaign using the ClickFix social engineering technique to distribute  the Vidar Stealer info-stealing malware. [...]

A 39-year-old Australian national who was previously employed at U.S. defense contractor L3Harris has been sentenced to a little over seven years in prison for selling eight zero-day exploits to Russian exploit broker Operation Zero in exchange for millions of dollars

A Western Australia man will spend seven years behind bars after stealing intimate data via Wi-Fi

A 44-year-old man was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison for operating an "evil twin" WiFi network to steal the data of unsuspecting travelers at various airports across Australia. [...]

Australian Clinical Labs Ordered to Pay $3.8 Million Over Pathology Unit Data TheftAn Australian court has fined a medical lab $5.8 million for cybersecurity failures leading up to - and following - a 2022 cyberattack that affected 223,000 patients. The penalty marked the first time Australia has levied a civil monetary fine for violations of its Privacy Act of 1988.

Australian Clinical Labs Ordered to Pay $5.8M in Data Theft at Medlab Pathology UnitAn Australian court has fined a medical lab $5.8 million for cybersecurity failures leading up to - and following - a 2022 cyberattack that affected 223,000 patients. The penalty marked the first time Australia has levied a civil monetary fine for violations of its Privacy Act of 1988.

Frequent flyers’ info takes flight Australian airline Qantas on Wednesday revealed it fell victim to a cyberattack that saw information describing six million customers stolen.…

Hackers Use Credential Stuffing to Steal AU$500,000, Breach 20,000 Member AccountsAustralia's largest pension funds faced coordinated credential attacks last week that compromised thousands of user accounts and led to the theft of at least AU$500,000 from four superannuation accounts. The affected funds included AustralianSuper, Rest and Australian Retirement Trust.

Australians checking their pensions are melting down call centres and websites Australian retirement fund operators are scrambling after reports emerged of unauthorized access to customer accounts leading to theft of cash.…

Victims' details at risk after criminals download 9,000 files from court database Australian police are currently investigating the theft of "sensitive" data from a New South Wales court system after they confirmed approximately 9,000 files were stolen.…

Regulators Say FIIG Lacked Basic Security Measures to Prevent 2023 BreachThe Australian financial regulator has filed a lawsuit against FIIG Securities Limited, accusing the leading investment and financing company of having inadequate cybersecurity controls to stop a threat actor from stealing the confidential personal information of 18,000 customers.

Researchers: Ransomware Group Emerged Last Fall; Variant of Babuk MalwareA new ransomware gang, Termite, has started leaking on the dark web samples of sensitive data stolen in an attack on Australian fertility clinic Genea. A court has issued a restraining order in hopes of preventing the threat actor or others from further disseminating, using or publishing the data.

​The Termite ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for breaching and stealing sensitive healthcare data belonging to Genea patients, one of Australia's largest fertility services providers. [...]

'Near-global' initial access campaign active since 2021 An initial-access subgroup of Russia's Sandworm last year wriggled its way into networks within the US, UK, Canada and Australia, stealing credentials and data from "a limited number of organizations," according to Microsoft.…

Banks Shift Blame to Social Media, Telecoms While Scam Victims Pay the PriceIf you're the victim of a scam in Australia, the chances of being reimbursed for your stolen funds are low. In fact, the AFCA ruled in favor of full reimbursement for victims in only 4.8% of its cases in 2024, highlighting the difficulty consumers face in disputing fraud-related losses with banks.

Banks Shift Blame to Social Media, Telecoms While Scam Victims Pay the PriceIf you're the victim of a scam in Australia, the chances of being reimbursed for your stolen funds are low. In fact, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority ruled in favor of full reimbursement for victims in only 4.8% of its cases last year, highlighting the difficulty consumers face when disputing fraud-related losses with their banks.

The BianLian ransomware operation has shifted its tactics, becoming primarily a data theft extortion group, according to an updated advisory from the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, and the Australian Cyber Security Centre. [...]

Threat Actor Compromised an IT Account and Accessed Data Warehouse, Core SystemsAustralia's Western Sydney University said hackers breached its student management system and data warehouse to steal students' demographic and enrollment information in the third data theft incident of 2024. The hacker gained unauthorized access by compromising an IT account.

A collaboration with the FBI and law-enforcement agencies in Europe, the UK, and Australia, Operation Magnus has seized servers and source code related to the two malware families, which have stolen data from millions of victims worldwide.

Also: Taiwan AML Rules, IcomTech SentencingThis week, Australia seized crypto from alleged Ghost mastermind, Taiwan drafts new AML rules, IcomTech founder sentenced, U.S. looks to recover stolen crypto, EigenLayer's erroneous fund transfer, FTX's bankruptcy plan approved, Bitfinex hack update and regulatory push for a lawsuit against Nvidia.