Australian Perpetual Experiencing Technical Disturbances Due To IT Security Incidents

JAKARTA - Australian Perpetual on Wednesday, June 21 confirmed an extended technical service disruption due to the IT security incident, affecting part of their funds. However, the fund management company insists that all of their client's and internal system investments remain safe and unaffected.

"Perpetual-listed products, institutional mandates, financiers, Perpetual Corporate Trust, Perpetual Wrap clients, and all of our international asset management businesses are not affected," said a spokesperson.

Since September last year, the company's industry in Australia has seen a worrying increase in IT security incidents, with several new companies targeted, including TechnologyOne Ltd and Medibank Ltd.

In the Perpetual case, one of their third-party unit registration systems was successfully hacked, thus disrupting client access to their main investor login portal, myPerpetual, the company said in a statement.

However, last Wednesday, the company confirmed that their core system had recovered and client transaction processing, including withdrawal payments, had resumed.

The disruption affects about 45,000 clients and is limited to their Asset Management and Wealth Management Division, namely the Investment Fund, Wealth Focus, and selected products distributed in Australia.

For the time being, Perpetual says they have cut ties with the third-party system "after learning of this incident and are currently working with registration providers to rebuild the system" in order to create a safer environment.