The Adviser, a media outlet based in Shepparton, has been hit by a potential 350-plus gigabyte data breach.
The Brain Cipher ransomware group has listed The Adviser – a newspaper and media outlet serving the Shepparton area in regional Victoria – as a hacking victim on its darknet leak site.
The hacker said in a 21 May leak post that they were in possession of more than 350 gigabytes of data exfiltrated from the outlet, and had given a ransom deadline of 2 June for its publication.
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Brain Cipher did not publish any evidence of the hack, such as scanned documents or screen captures, nor did it list its ransom demand.
The Adviser has so far not responded to Cyber Daily’s request for comment. There is currently no security notice referencing the alleged incident on the outlet’s website.
Who is Brain Cipher?
First observed in 2024, Brain Cipher appears to have been on an approximately six-month hiatus since its last tranche of victims in late 2025.
The group said little of itself on its leaksite, other than its motto: “TRUSTED DATALEAK BY OUR TEAM OF 2026,” which at the very least suggests a group of hackers may not be native English speakers.
Most analyses of the group date back to 2024, when it first emerged; however, Ransomware.live appears to have more up-to-date data. According to that site, the group had at least once relied on a version of the LockBit ransomware variant for its attacks and was known to exploit a particular Microsoft Windows CLFS Driver Privilege Escalation Vulnerability, CVE-2023-28252.
Brain Cipher’s ransom demands typically range from US$150,000 to US$1,000,000, and its preferred payment method is the difficult-to-track Monero cryptocurrency, which is typically difficult to purchase in countries like Australia due to its common use by darknet marketplaces.
The group has claimed 56 victims in total, with The Adviser having the dubious distinction of being its first Australian hack. Most of its victims are either North American or European.
Who is The Adviser?
The Adviser was established in 1984 and operates both a news website and a regular print edition, serving the population of the Goulburn and Murray Valleys in Victoria, and is headquartered in Shepparton.
The paper has approximately 60,000 readers and also hosts a registry of local trades and services on its website.
According to that site, The Adviser is distributed to “homes, farms & businesses throughout the City of Greater Shepparton and beyond, including Shepparton, Mooroopna, Kyabram, Tatura, Numurkah, Nagambie and surrounding districts”.
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David Hollingworth
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.