Australia warns on cyber attacks on resource firms

By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government urged companies on Monday to tighten vigilance over cyber attacks launched offshore against some of the world's biggest resource firms and other businesses, warning high-tech threats were intensifying.

Lockheed Martin Corp, the U.S. government's top information technology provider, raised concern about cyber hacking at the weekend, complaining of a pattern of frequent attacks on it from around the world.

Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland's comments also came after the outgoing head of Australia's biggest oil and gas company, Woodside Petroleum, said cyber hacking attacks were now coming "from everywhere".

"There is no doubt that cyber-security threats are becoming worse," McClelland told Reuters on the sidelines of a cyber security conference in Canberra.

"Without talking about specific incidents, there have been a number of reports concerning our resource companies," McClelland said.

Outgoing Woodside chief executive Don Voelte told a business conference in Perth on Friday that cyber attacks were a major concern in resource powerhouse Australia, and were not just coming from energy hungry China.

"It comes from everywhere. It comes from eastern Europe; it comes from Russia. Just don't pick on the Chinese; it's everywhere," Voelte was quoted as saying in a report in the Australian newspaper on Monday.

Japanese electronics conglomerate Sony was also hit by a breach involving its PlayStation Network that compromised the personal data of more than 100 million customers.