Hackers Strike Australia’s Largest Pension Funds in Coordinated Attacks
By Christine Chen
– Major pension funds hacked by criminals, cyber security chief says
– Money stolen from four accounts at No. 1 fund AustralianSuper – source
– Prime Minister Albanese briefed, says agency response forthcoming
SYDNEY, April 4 (Reuters) – Hackers targeting Australia’s major pension funds in a series of coordinated attacks have stolen savings from some members at the biggest fund, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, and compromised more than 20,000 accounts.
National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said in a statement she was aware of “cyber criminals” targeting accounts in the country’s A$4.2 trillion ($2.63 trillion) retirement savings sector and was organising a response across the government, regulators and industry.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, the industry body, said “a number” of funds were impacted over the weekend. While the full scale of the incident remains unclear, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Rest, Insignia and Hostplus on Friday all confirmed they suffered breaches.
AustralianSuper, the country’s largest fund managing A$365 billion for 3.5 million members, said that up to 600 member passwords had been stolen to access accounts and attempt fraud.
“We took immediate action to lock these accounts and let those members know,” AustralianSuper’s Chief Member Officer Rose Kerlin said, urging all members to check their online balances.
Four AustralianSuper members had a combined A$500,000 drained from their balances and transferred to other accounts that did not belong to them, according to the source, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.
AustralianSuper did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Australian Retirement Trust, the second-largest fund managing A$300 billion for 2.4 million members, said it had detected “unusual login activity” affecting “several hundreds” of accounts. It locked impacted accounts as a precaution, though there were no suspicious transactions or changes made.
Rest Super, the default industry pension fund for retail workers, with A$93 billion of assets under management, said it suffered an attack that impacted around 20,000 accounts, or around 1% of its 2 million members.
“Over the weekend of 29-30 March 2025, Rest became aware of some unauthorised activity on our online Member Access portal,” Rest CEO Vicki Doyle said.
“We responded immediately by shutting down the Member Access portal, undertaking investigations and launching our cyber security incident response protocols.”
Insignia Financial (IFL.AX), opens new tab, which owns the pension fund MLC, said it detected “suspicious” login activity on 100 Expand Wrap Platform customer accounts. MLC Expand CEO Liz McCarthy said there had been no financial impact at this stage to members.
Hostplus, which has more than 1.8 million members and A$115 billion under management, also confirmed it suffered an attack. A spokesperson said no member losses had occurred but that it was still investigating the extent of the incident.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed about the hacks and that there would be a “considered” response from government agencies in time. He added that such attacks were a “regular issue” in Australia, with one occurring every six minutes.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the developments were “very concerning”, while shadow cyber security minister James Paterson called for funds to reimburse members who lost money from the attack.
Australia’s largest not-for-profit hospital and aged care provider St Vincent’s Health, private health insurer Medibank (MPL.AX), opens new tab and telecom Optus have all suffered major breaches.
The government in 2023 committed A$587 million to fund a seven-year strategy to improve the cybersecurity of citizens, businesses and agencies.
($1 = 1.5995 Australian dollars).
