Rex confirms it was caught up in major law firm cyberattack

Rex confirms it was caught up in major law firm cyberattack

Time Stamp: August 1, 2023 1:57 AM
Source Node: 2799383
Victor Pody shot this Rex 737, VH-MFM

Rex has reported that “confidential exchanges” between it and a client have been exposed as a part of a hack that saw the data of a raft of law firm HWL Ebsworth’s clients impacted.

HWL Ebsworth, one of Australia’s largest commercial law firms, had 3.6 terabytes of data stolen earlier this year. Rex’s daily operations remain unaffected, and the carrier currently believes that passenger details have not been affected.

“Regional Express (Rex) has been informed that its client’s lawyers, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers (HWLE), has been a victim of a cyber attack,” Rex said in a statement. “The incident resulted in the theft of data relating to confidential exchanges between Rex’s subsidiary and its client.”

Rex is now waiting on HWL Ebsworth for more details of what data exactly has been exposed.

“Rex is now requesting for evaluation of the documents that have been stolen from HWLE’s servers to determine the extent of potential damages to Rex’s interests,” the airline said. At the moment, Rex has put both HWL Ebsworth and the affected client “on notice” regarding further damages caused by the breach.

Russian state-backed hacking syndicate ALPHV (also known as BlackCat) claimed responsibility for the April cyberattack, and since then, a number of major companies – including the big four banks, as well as government agencies and authorities such as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) – have reported they have had data exposed through the incident.

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