Australia discloses data compromise following ransomware attack against law firm

Numerous Australian government agencies and other entities were reportedly compromised as a result of an ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware attack against major Australian law firm HWL Ebsworth in April, reports SecurityWeek. Such a ransomware attack was noted by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the country's privacy watchdog, to have impacted some of its files, while major Australian financial services firm National Australia Bank reported a potentially limited impact on its customers. Also reportedly affected were the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Defence, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, the Taxation Office, and the Department of Home Affairs. HWL Ebsworth had its system, but not its core document management system, infiltrated by ALPHV/BlackCat, resulting in the theft of nearly 3.6TB of data, nearly half of which have already been leaked by the ransomware operation earlier this month, but investigation into the extent of the breach is still underway, according to the law firm.