Australian’s Evolution Mining said on Monday that it became aware of a cyber attack last week, amid a spate of similar incidents that have plagued domestic firms.
Australian firms have continued to suffer from cyber attacks since 2022, putting the spotlight on the country’s understaffed cyber security industry that experts say seems ill-equipped to tackle such hacks.
The gold miner said that the security breach had been contained. It did not provide further details.
The country has boosted its cyber defences after some major breaches by increasing law enforcement funding and introducing mandatory reporting of such attacks under a security overhaul.
Evolution has reported the matter to the Australian Cyber Security Centre, it said, adding that the incident is not expected to have any material impact on operations.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre told Reuters that Evolution had not provided them with much information on the incident.
Cyber crime reports in Australia jumped by nearly a quarter in the year to June 2023, with the average cost to victims up 14%, the Australian Cyber Security Centre said in a report last November. It noted that a new defence agreement with the US and Britain also made Australia a bigger target.
Optus, Australia’s second-largest mobile operator and a unit of Singapore Telecommunications, was the first to report a data breach, while retail giant Woolworths, health insurer Medibank, and British oil and gas firm Shell’s Australian unit also flagged similar incidents.
(By Rishav Chatterjee and Aaditya Govind Rao; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sonia Cheema)
