Global Hacking Group Targets North Queensland Sugar Mills

A hacking group that speaks Russian has claimed it attacked two sugar mills in North Queensland, Australia, shutting them down for about a week. The mills, called Racecourse and Farleigh, are owned by a company named Mackay Sugar and stopped working on June 10. The attack stopped the mills from crushing sugarcane, hurting hundreds of farmers who depend on the company. Cyber security experts say the incident is a serious warning for Australia's entire farming industry.

The group behind the attack is known as The Gentlemen. It runs a 'ransomware-as-a-service' operation, which means it sells hacking tools to criminals who then use them to carry out attacks. The group only appeared last year but has already claimed a large number of victims. A report from cyber security firm Check Point Research found the real number of victims may be as high as 1,570, even though the group only claimed 320 attacks by April.

Australia was listed as the fourth-most-targeted country by this hacking group. Cyber security expert Andrew Philp confirmed that The Gentlemen posted a claim about the Mackay Sugar attack on the dark web. However, he said the claim could not be fully proven without confirmation from Mackay Sugar or the police. He noted that researchers did not find the kind of data evidence that hacking groups usually release to prove they carried out an attack.

Mackay Sugar said it was working quickly to check if the claims were true and to find out what information may have been accessed. The company said the attack would not stop it from restarting mill operations by the end of the week. Both mills ran steam trials to prepare for a staged restart, and Farleigh mill was able to do some manual crushing of cane harvested before the attack. The Queensland Police Service and Australian Federal Police both declined to comment.

Around 1,300 farms supply cane to Mackay Sugar, and many of them paused harvesting after the attack. Farmer Charles Townley said he was worried about growing money losses because the lost crushing time would be pushed to the end of the milling season. At that time of year, the weather is wetter and the sugar content in cane drops, making it less valuable. 'Every day we lose now is a day extra at the end,' Mr Townley said. 'We can't really afford that.'

Experts say farming and food companies are being attacked by cyber criminals more and more often. Mr Philp explained that these businesses often use older technology and have smaller cyber security budgets than large banks or financial firms. This makes it easier for hackers to find weaknesses in their systems and cause serious disruptions. The Australian Sugar Manufacturers group said cyber security would be a top topic at an upcoming industry meeting, with its CEO warning that any business in the supply chain can become a target.