Australian companies warned of possible cyber security breach

Australian companies are warned of the cyber security breach potential now that exposes critical information that now demands more attention.

The spate of Internet and website security breaches made by hackers led by the so-called LulzSec this week has put into the fore that companies world-wide must address this gnawing problem.

After LulzSec's attack that put the U.S.-based CIA (Centre for Intelligence Agency) website down, it exposed some critical emails and their passwordsrelated to .com.au addresses and several government departments and councils.

The hacker group LulzSec continued its cyber attack frenzy with exposing some 62,000 email addresses and passwords. A number of the leaked login details related to .com.au addresses exposing several government departments and councils.

LulzSec twitted on late Thursday: "Releasing 62,000 possible account combinations is the loot for creative minds to scour; think of it like digging a very unique mineshaft."

Distribute.IT breach

A related Sydney Morning Herald report said that this should point out the severity of the problem that exposes people's sensitive information and data not just those in Australia.

The paper also reported that thousands of Australian websites are vulnerable to being taken over by hackers following a break-in at Australian domain registrar and web host Distribute.IT, security experts say.

Distribute.IT was hacked on Saturday in a "deliberate, premeditate and targeted attack", the company said.

It is now almost a week since the attack on Distribute occurred and so far the company has not made its website online, explain what happened or notify customers of any stolen data.

"It is unclear exactly how many Australian websites are hosted by Distribute.IT or how many domain names it manages, but Fairfax Media has seen a list of hundreds of customers and this is understood to be just the top of the iceberg with thousands affected," the SMH report said.