Australian superannuation funds that have been hit with cyber attacks are moving to assure members that their funds are safe.
AustralianSuper issued a statement on Friday saying that even though customers might not be able to see their accounts or were seeing a zero balance, this was a “temporary situation”.
AustralianSuper Chief Member Officer Rose Kerlin said a recent spike in criminal activity detected by the fund was a timely warning for members to make sure their account details were correct.
“Over the past week, we have seen a spike in suspicious activity across our member portal and mobile app and we are urging members to take steps to protect themselves online,” Ms Kerlin said.
“This week we identified that cyber criminals may have used up to 600 members’ stolen passwords to log into their accounts in attempts to commit fraud.”
AustralianSuper members were encouraged to log into their account to check that their bank account and contact details were correct and make sure they had a strong and unique password that was not used for other sites.
Members with any concerns about their accounts could call 1300 300 273.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) said in a statement that ASFA was aware that last weekend hackers attempted to get through the cyber-defences of a number of superannuation funds.
“While the majority of the attempts were repelled, unfortunately a number of members were affected,” ASFA said.
“Funds are contacting all affected members to let them know and are helping any whose data has been compromised.”
The statement said retirement savers “should be assured superannuation funds and their service providers already have rigorous cyber protections in place”.
ASFA was also heavily engaged with government on strengthening Australia’s cyber security protection laws.
More information is available on the ASFA website and the Australian Super website.
