The identity of the hacker is still unknown. Australia's cyber security agency named the mysterious hacker "Alf", a character in the TV series Home and Away.
"It could be one of several different actors," said Defense Industry Minister Christopher Pyne when asked about the perpetrators of this attack.
"It could be an actor in the state or not, it could be someone who works for another company." One thing is certain, Pyne asserted, the theft of this data will not threaten national security.
Incident Response Manager, ASD, Mitchell Clarke, called the attack an extreme and extensive attack. The stolen data includes data on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, C130 transport plane and Poseidon P-8 aircraft as well as several naval vessels.
Clarke explains, the hackers take advantage of weaknesses in software used by government contractors. The software has not been getting an update for 12 months. In addition, he said, the aerospace engineering company also does not change the password and still uses the default password.
