Australian airport security details stolen after computer systems hacked

An Australian airport had sensitive security details and building plans stolen after its computer systems were hacked.Perth Airport was hacked by Vietnamese man Le Duc Hoang Hai, who used the credentials of a third-party contractor to get access to the systems in March last year, The West Australian has reported.

Hai, 31, has been jailed by the Vietnamese military court for four years for illegally accessing Perth Airport’s corporate network in 2016.

Kevin Brown, Perth Airport CEO, said in a statement issued to Nine.com.au: “We detected a cyber intrusion of one of our networks in 2016 and notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Federal Police.

“The assistance and hard work of these two agencies has resulted in the successful identification and prosecution of the individual responsible for the cyber intrusion.

“Based on evidence gathered by the Australian Federal Police, it appears that credit card theft was the motivation for the illegal accessing of our system.

“No personal data of members of the public, such as details of credit card numbers, was accessed but other Perth Airport documents were taken.”

Brown said the airport has completed a full risk assessment of the data stolen and concluded there was no threat or risk to the travelling public.

“At no time was the safety or security of the airport, its staff, passengers or partners compromised,” he said.

Perth Airport has since invested $2 million in additional security measures.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s cybersecurity adviser Alastair MacGibbon told The West Australian the man stole “a significant amount of data” relating to the airport, including building schematics and details of physical security at airport buildings.

MacGibbon said Hai did not access radars or other systems.

He explained Perth Airport detected the hack, passing the information on to the Federal Government’s cybersecurity centre in Canberra.

The AFP traced the hack to Vietnam and police there were tipped off and began investigating which culminated in Hai’s arrest.

He was sentenced to four years jail last week.

It emerged Perth Airport wasn’t his only target – Hai was found to have hacked infrastructure and websites in Vietnam, including banks, telecommunications and an online military newspaper.

Perth Airport is thought to have been his only Australian-based target.