Cyber attack knocks out Wollongong trucking firm for second week

Last Friday, April 12, the North Wollongong-based company was hit by a cyber attack.

The company has stood down staff and contractors as it attempts to get the business back up and running.

Last week, an automated email informed customers that the business hoped to resume operations after Friday April 19, however a new email on Monday morning indicated that the business expected systems to be down for another week.

Attempts by The Mercury to contact the business were unsuccessful.

"We will be functioning to have consignments that have already been collected dispatched for delivery however, there will be no pickups during this time," the automated email states.

Representatives from the Transport Workers Union have also attempted to make contact with Barnett's to ensure workers who are stood down and contractors are taken care of, but were only in preliminary talks with the company on Monday.

Cyber criminals have increasingly been targeting Australian businesses, including in the Illawarra, with a report released earlier this month finding that business email compromise attacks were the leading cyber threat in 2023.

CyberCX digital forensics and incident response executive director Hamish Krebs said email-based attacks were popular with financially motivated attackers as they could use them to redirect payments.

"If you can re-route an invoice, you can definitely steal $100,000," he said.

"If you imagine an accounts receivable or an accounts payable mailbox in a business, there could be lots of payments going past."

It is not known how the attack has targeted Barnett's business.

In 2020, national logistics provider Toll was hit by two ransomware attacks, which led to a month of disruptions before the company was able to bounce back to full services.

In December 2023, the University of Wollongong was targeted in a cyber security incident which involved breaches of student and staff data.

With AAP.