OROTON IN HALT AFTER SALES SLIP
Aussie companies advised to wise up to hacker attacks
AUSTRALIAN companies have a brief window to fortify their security defences, experts say, with fears a bigger version of the weekend’s unprecedented global cyberattack is being plotted.
And small to medium-sized businesses appear most at risk, with industry figures showing 42 per cent of SMEs fell victim to a ransomware attack in the past year.
“It’s not a matter of if, but when, ransomware or another type of external breach will impact your business,” said Charif El Ansari, chief executive of Australian-listed data recovery provider Dropsuite.
“There are already reports of a second wave that may be coming soon if the attacks vary their original hack and send it again.”
The warning comes in the wake of a ransomware attack – believed to be the world’s biggest online extortion attempt – that emerged on Friday and has since struck more than 100,000 organisations globally.
It hit organisations in 150 countries, including British hospitals, German rail operators and Chinese universities.
The as-yet unidentified hackers behind the attack – nicknamed ‘WannaCry’ for the. WNCRYT file extension it applies to infected files – demanded victims make a bitcoin payment of $US300-$US600 to recover their data.
It was reported yesterday that people who had paid ransoms had not received access to their files, suggesting any payment was futile.
The hackers appeared to target PCs with the Microsoft Windows operating system that had yet to apply an antimalware patch issued by the tech giant in March.
Reports suggest a number of smaller Australian companies OROTON shares are in a trading halt after the struggling luxury handbag retailer warned its earnings have slipped in April.
In a letter to the ASX, Oroton said its preliminary earnings figures for April – a month the retailer said was important for sales – are down on the same period a year ago.
Oroton will be in a trading halt to tomorrow or until it announces an update on the impact April’s weak trade has had on its earnings.
The company said it wanted the halt to manage its disclosure obligations and maintain “an orderly market” in the trading of its shares.
Yesterday’s halt follows a steep fall in Oroton’s first-half earnings, announced in February, and the resignation of the group’s chief executive in April.
The retailer’s first-half net profit plunged 52 per cent to $1.8 million after like-for-like sales dropped 11 per cent in the six months to January 28.
Oroton blamed weaker sales on its shift away from women’s apparel, shoes and lingerie, lower sales at its factory outlets and a decline in sales at its seven GAP stores.
Ross Lane, the grandson of Oroton’s founder, is serving as interim chief executive after Mark Newman stepped down on April 11.
Mr Lane is leading a transformation strategy that involves targeting younger women and resulted in the company ending its relationship with actress Rose Byrne.
Oroton shares last traded at $1.35, a more than 10-year low. were caught up in the attack.
Ian Yip, the chief technology officer for Australia and the Asia-Pacific at security software heavyweight McAfee, said the motivation was clearly financial.
“For many companies, the financial impact from the disruption to services is going to be higher than the actual ransom, though few have gone ahead and paid it,” Mr Yip said.
The level of sophistication behind the hack, blending ransomware with wormlike tactics, pointed to a criminal element rather than mischiefmaking, Mr Yip said.
He said Australia appeared to have avoided the bulk of the attack, although any fallout may become more apparent later in the week.
Mr El Ansari said seven out of every 10 data breahces were at companies with fewer than 100 staff, while 30,000 websites were hacked every day.