Tan Duc ‘Henry’ Mai accused of SAAB Australia data theft

The Advertiser can now identify the 21-year-old Croydon Park man following the revocation of a suppression order.

Tan Duc "Henry" Mai leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court where he is accused of stealing confidential data from defence contractor SAAB. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

An IT officer at one of the nation’s leading defence contractors used a colleague’s credentials to access confidential systems, steal data and post it to his public blog, a court has heard.

Prosecutors have further alleged SAAB Australia intern Tan Duc “Henry” Mai maintains 32 publicly-accessible data sources, to which he has made 2000 uploads in just 12 months.

The Advertiser can identify the Henley High School graduate, 21, of Croydon Park, following the revocation of a suppression order on Wednesday by the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Mr Mai, who studies at the University of SA, has yet to plead to one count of modifying computer data to cause harm

Until now, his identity has been a closely-guarded secret while SA Police investigate the allegations, which carry a maximum 10-year prison term.

Mr Mai was arrested in April 2024 and made his first court appearance by video link, wearing his SAAB-monogrammed polo shirt.

During that hearing, a police prosecutor urged the court to deny him bail and keep his identity suppressed for 28 days.

“These allegations stem from the alleged use of a colleague’s credentials to access systems to which he was not authorised,” he said.

“It’s alleged he’s covered his tracks by deleting data and wiping his digital footprint after accessing systems within SAAB that contain sensitive information.”

Tan Duc Mai, aka Henry Mai, who is accused of having siphoned sensitive data from the servers of defence contractor SAAB, where he was employed as an intern. Image: Supplied.

He said police needed further time to identify the amount and type of data Mr Mai had allegedly stolen and posted to cloud servers and a blog he controlled.

They also needed to determine under whose instruction, if anyone, Mr Mai had allegedly stolen that data and whether he had provided it to specific third parties.

“This is an exceptionally complicated matter … there has been seizure of multiple laptop computers and smart phone devices,” he said.

“During those seizures, Mr Mai told police he had uploaded data belonging to SAAB to an external site that was under his control.

“He is extremely active in the IT space … he has 32 publicly-accessible repositories (of data) to which he has made 2000 contributions in the past 12 months.

“He stated, to police, that he ‘might have’ posted data from his employer to (those repositories) … the full extent of his activity is still being determined.”

Tyson Leung, for Mr Mai, said her client was a Vietnamese national and Henley High School graduate in his final year of IT studies at the University of SA.

“He was interning at SAAB as an IT officer, these charges will be contested and he is terrified of being remanded in custody,” she said.

“If he is on strict bail, unable to access the internet, there’s nothing to suggest he would breach court orders.”

Magistrate Justin Wickens said the allegations against Mr Mai were too serious and the status of the allegedly stolen data “too vague” to warrant bail.

“It’s unclear at this point in time what information, in total, has been compromised and where it might possibly have gone,” he said.

“I would not be comfortable having him in the community where he might possibly take steps to achieve whatever it was he was up to – if he was indeed up to anything.

“In the circumstances, I’m not prepared to grant him bail under any conditions.”

He remanded Mr Mai in custody to face court again in November, and temporarily suppressed his identity to allow investigations to continue.

However, Mr Mai challenged that bail refusal in the Supreme Court earlier this month.

During that hearing, Ms Leung said her client had ties to the state, as he had been in Australia for four years while studying and working at a Vietnamese restaurant.

She said Mr Mai had assisted police with accessing his online accounts, and had since been locked out.

Two of his friends, she said, had offered up a $5000 cash surety each to secure his release.

Prosecutors argued Mr Mai should remain in custody but, if released, should receive only home detention bail.

They said that was “more appropriate” due to him being a flight risk, as his family “had financial means”.

The court, however, released Mr Mai on ordinary bail with conditions he not access the internet apart from study, work or banking purposes.

It further banned him from attending all SAAB sites, and from contacting its employees.

Mr Mai will next face court in November.