Pivotal ‘lost data’ after hack attack

LIQUIDATORS of Gold Coast builder Pivotal Homes say the company was subject to a devastating ransomware attack in the weeks before it collapsed.

The hack means Pivotal’s financial information will have to be painstakingly pieced together using paper records.

Meanwhile, it has emerged a Ferrari, bought for $440,000 in 2018 and listed as a company asset, was sold a few months ago.

Pivotal Homes went into administration on May 26, leaving the future uncertain for more than 200 new home builds and 16 staff.

A report from director Michael Irwin (inset) estimated it had debts of more than $3.6m, but said “lost data” meant there were “no accurate records” of exactly how much was owed to subbies and suppliers.

Liquidator Chris Cook said the attack was legitimate and had corrupted the company’s files covering the past six months.

Mr Cook said the lost files had meant staff of Pivotal had been attempting to settle accounts manually in recent weeks, with the increased labour a likely contributor to the company’s failure.

“It was probably a case of it being the final straw,” he said.

“It was making it enormously difficult, there was an enormous amount of labour involved in working out the payments.”

Mr Cook could not say whether the attack had been reported to authorities.

The Bulletin asked the Queensland Police Service and Australian Cyber Security Centre for a response.

Mr Cook said liquidators had been told the sports car had been sold “three or four months ago”, with proceeds returned to the company for the benefit of creditors. “I’ll be investigating that.”

Despite the unusual data setback, the liquidator said early indications were there would be sufficient funds in the company to ensure employee wages and entitlements were all met and he anticipated other unsecured creditors would receive at least part of what they were owed.