The hacker named ‘Alf’ who launched a cyber attack on an Australian Defense Contractor last year is reported to have stolen sensitive data related to Joint Strike Fighter Program and other military hardware related info.
According to the details available to Cybersecurity insiders, around 30GB of data was stolen in the incident and it includes plans of Fighter Jet Warplanes and P-8 Poseidon Surveillance planes. The attack was said to be methodical, slow and deliberate and was carried out for 5 months in 2016.
However, the Australian Defense Minister Christopher Pyne said that the data which has been stolen is commercial data and not the sensitive military data as reported in the media.
But as per an anonymous source reporting from Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the stolen info includes technical details like smart bombs making, plans to architect Poseidon Maritime Patrol aircrafts and the weaponry information of some naval vessels which are now patrolling the Indian Ocean.
A spokesperson for the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) said that the leaked info includes details of Australia buying 72 Lockheed Martin Corp Joint Strike Fighter Planes. But the government is not interested in releasing further details on this issue for reasons.
As all such details are related to the government and are sensitive, a state-funded actor’s influence is suspected in the hack.
But the Defense Minister Pyne is showing reluctance in accepting this truth and is a belief that it was an act of a small-time hacker interested in gaining monetary benefits from the hack.
