Several pension funds in Australia have been targeted by a coordinated hacking incident that compromised many member accounts in the A$4.2 trillion ($2.66 trillion) industry, as stated by the government's cyber security chief on Friday.

According to National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness, there have been reports of cyber criminals targeting pension fund account holders, leading to the theft of around 600 member passwords at AustralianSuper, the largest fund in the country, managing A$365 billion for more than 3.5 million members. They promptly locked the affected accounts and informed the members.

REST, which is an industry pension fund for retail workers with A$93 billion in assets under management, was also impacted by an attack last weekend, affecting about 1% of its 2 million members, according to CEO Vicki Doyle.

Insignia Financial, a major retail superannuation brand owner with A$327 billion under management, reported that a "malicious third-party" tried to access online pension accounts on its platform. However, there have been no financial repercussions for members so far.

Additional pension funds involved in the incident did not provide immediate comments on the matter.