Cybercriminals attack major superannuation funds

Cybercriminals attempted to breach the systems of several superannuation funds at the start of the month. Although most attacks were repelled, thousands were affected.

- Andrew McKean

Rest said fewer than 1% of its members were affected by unauthorised activity on its online Member Access portal. Reports suggest the incident may have compromised the details of up to 8000 members.

A statement from Rest chief executive Vicki Doyle said the fund responded immediately by shutting down the member access portal, undertaking investigations, and launching its cyber security incident response protocol.

Nevertheless, she said this will be “very concerning” for impacted members, adding the fund is “very sorry this has happened.”

"We're in the process of contacting impacted members to work through what this means for them and provide support. No member funds were transferred out of impacted members’ accounts due to these unauthorised access attempts,” she said.

Rest said some members may have had limited personal information accessed and that it will continue to update affected individuals and assist them with taking further steps to protect their accounts.

AustralianSuper also confirmed it saw a spike in suspicious activity across its member portal and mobile app.

AustralianSuper chief member officer Rose Kerlin said the fund has identified that cybercriminals may have used up to 600 members' stolen passwords to login into their accounts in attempts to commit fraud.