Australia-based Defence shipbuilder Austal has been the subject of a cyber security breach and extortion attempt.
The company announced to the stock exchange that its Australian data management system had been targeted by an “unknown offender”.
Some staff email addresses and mobile phone numbers were accessed, according to the statement which acknowledged that a “small number” of customers had been affected.
It said the offender tried to sell some of the stolen material online “and engage in extortion”.
The company, which builds patrol vessels and frigates for the Australian Navy, said there was “no evidence to date that information affecting national security has been stolen”.
But it indicated the hackers got access to — or stole — drawings and designs of its ships.
While it was unclear who was behind this latest attack, Duncan Lewis, the head of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, recently highlighted the growing threat to Australia’s national interests of “espionage and foreign interference”.