14 DAY TRIAL // Australia will be enhancing its fleet with a few new submarines, and according to reports from The Australian, the three companies that are currently submitting bids to win the project and build the subs, are seeing a barrage of cyber-attacks against their IT infrastructure.
The project, valued at 20 billion AUD (14 billion USD), is in its initial phase, during which Australia has provided requirements for the submarines it desires to buy.
Three companies have come forward to take up the project, German-based ThyssenKrupp, the Japanese government, and France's DCNS.
These three shipbuilders are currently working on their initial bids, which will be submitted to the Australian government by November 30.
The Australian government was very well aware that cyber-attacks were a present-day danger and took precautionary measures to deliver the submarine requirements by hand and in person to each company, avoiding to send sensitive data via the Internet.
Submarine builders are reporting cyber-attacks on a daily basis
Despite this, the three shipbuilders that embarked on this project are now reporting constant cyber-attacks on a daily basis.
German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp has even said that its IT department detects and blocks from 30 to 40 cyber-attacks per night.
All three companies declined to formally point the finger at one specific party, but rumors have it that most attacks come from Russian and Chinese sources, which makes sense since nowadays most state-powered hacking groups are based in those two countries.
Other recent rumors also point the finger at Russia for hacking the Dutch Safety Board over the flight MH17 crash report, and at China for infecting the Hague International Tribunal's website with malware to spy on people that read about the South China Sea dispute.
Interest in Australia's submarine plans is high since the Aussie government will be building a totally new model, instead of using technology it has from its allies. According to current estimations, the subs will be delivered to the Australian Royal Navy by mid-2020s.