"It is believed computers belonging to at least five Melbourne businesses have been stripped of their data by a hacker who threatens to attack more companies if the violence continues," according to the ABC report.
One Melbourne construction company has said it lost all its data and had to pay ASD 120,000 to repair its computer network.
Mark Gregory, a lecturer in internet security at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, said it was unusual, but not surprising, to see cyber hackers spurred by revenge rather than financial gain.
"The motivation here appears to be something that is very topical and in the news at the moment and to suggest that there wouldn't be groups that would use the internet for this type of action would be wrong," he said.
Gregory told ABC Radio that it is imperative that organisations do not leave themselves open to such an attack.
"Once people have worked out how to make this type of attack, they can automate it," he said.
"So they can then attack a large number of companies in a very short space of time."
"I wouldn't be surprised if this is the tip of the iceberg that you're hearing about," he added.