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Hackers have stolen and published 147 gigabytes of data belonging to an NSW wealth management firm.
The Kairos ransomware gang has listed Australian wealth management firm Austin’s Financial Solutions as a victim on its darknet leak site and has published 147 gigabytes of data stolen during the alleged incident.
The initial post – published on 19 December 2024 – included several files as evidence of successful data exfiltration, including scans of passports belonging to employees, payroll data, and an employee contract.
Austin’s Financial Solutions did not respond to Cyber Daily’s request for comment on the incident.
Kairos is a relative newcomer to the ransomware space, posting its first tranche of six victims on 13 November 2024. Since then, it has listed eight more victims, including Austin’s Financial Solutions.
According to threat intelligence firm Cyjax, Kairos is active on several Russian-language hacking forums and does not appear to be linked to other hacking groups. The group also provides some information on its operations on its leak site. According to Kairos, victims are initially given seven days to respond to its demands, and once that deadline is passed, the gang publishes its initial leak post.
Once that deadline passes, Kairos will publish the stolen data.
“If the situation remains unresolved after seven days, we will notify your partners, competitors, and customers and then publish your data in full,” Kairos said on its Rules page.
“This could lead to legal actions, termination of contracts, reputational damage, stock value drops, and potential closure of your organisation.”
The gang said it tailors its ransom demand based on its victim’s income and expenses and offers a 20 per cent discount for early payment. Kairos said it would delete any stolen data within 24 hours and would provide logs of the data deletion, as well as security recommendations.
Austin’s Financial Solutions, based in Mona Vale in NSW, offers several financial services, including retirement planning, investment portfolio management, and self-managed superannuation funds.
“Our wide range of financial services are designed to assist individuals to optimise their financial situation and business owners to extract maximum personal wealth from their business endeavours,” the company said on its website.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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