June 5, 2024 at 05:06AM
Northern Minerals, an Australian rare-earth metals producer, fell victim to a data breach by the BianLian ransomware gang. Exfiltrated data, including operational, financial, and personal information, was released on the dark web. Despite the breach, the company’s operations and systems were not materially impacted. The incident coincided with political developments, but had no apparent geopolitical link.
The meeting notes indicate that Australian rare-earth metals producer Northern Minerals suffered a data breach after a ransomware group published information allegedly stolen from the company. The data included operational, human resources, management, project, and email data, as well as personal information of employees and corporate email archives. The breach, discovered in March 2024, prompted the company to engage legal, technical, and cybersecurity specialists. It is noteworthy that there is no mention of communication with the hackers, suggesting that a ransom was not paid. Additionally, the incident is not believed to have a geopolitical link, though Chinese hackers have previously targeted rare earth mining companies in Australia and North America. As a threat intelligence provider pointed out, the ransomware group responsible for the attack is likely financially motivated, having listed nine mining companies on its leak site since the beginning of 2024. SecurityWeek has reached out to Northern Minerals for additional information on the breach.