Police investigate Netfleet hack

Customer names, contact details and encrypted credit card numbers at risk.

Sydney-based domain trader Netfleet has warned customers that their personal details and encrypted credit cards may have been compromised after being attacked by hackers last week.

Netfleet bills itself as Australia's largest and most active domain name trading website operated by “a small team of developers and domain enthusiasts”.

It said hackers may have stolen customers' name, email and street addresses, phone numbers and encrypted credit card numbers with expiry dates.

“Whilst we believe no sensitive data such as credit card information was accessed by the intruder, there is a possibility that this is indeed the case and as such we felt it our duty to inform you,” the company wrote in an email on Wednesday.

“Since learning of the intrusion, we have taken the affected systems offline and are taking steps to address the vulnerability that led to this incident.”

The company is cooperating with the Australian Federal Police and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Australia to “undergo an exhaustive investigation in this matter”.

Netfleet said customers did not need to take action in its email on Wednesday.

“I would like to stress that we are erring on the side of caution and, there is no need to be unduly alarmed as it is in fact only a very remote possibility that your details have been accessed.

"Since learning of the intrusion, we have taken the affected systems offline and are taking steps to address the vulnerability that led to this incident."

The notice said the company did not store CVV digits, in accordance with PCI DSS requirements.

According to the Netfleet website, the company was formed after au Domain Administration (auDA) changed its rules in 2008 to allow registered Australian domains to be re-sold.

Netfleet operates in a partnership with Netregistry and boasts to sell “exclusively the top level .AU domain extension”.

A Netregistry operator said it was unaffected by the breach.