The largest Australian telecom company, Optus, has reported that a cyberattack on its servers revealed data on both present and previous customers. The firm stated in a news statement that an undefined amount of customer names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, addresses, and identification document numbers, including licence or passport numbers, were obtained in the breach.
However, the precise timing of the intrusion was not stated. With around 10 million consumers, Optus is the second-largest provider in the nation and a part of Singapore-owned Singtel. Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said a ‘sophisticated’ adversary was responsible for a hack that allowed access to data on up to 9.8 million people. The business said that no financial information nor passwords were stolen.
The Australian Signals Directorate was made aware of the occurrence. Australians who could be affected were cautioned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that they might be vulnerable to identity theft. Rosmarin said that no ransom demand had been made. She said that police and the Australian government were looking into the matter and stated, ‘It’s too early to rule out any scenario’.
The most recent significant carrier to experience hacking in recent years is Optus. According to TechCrunch, the internal network of Pacnet, an underwater cable firm owned by Australian telecom Telstra, was breached in 2015, allowing hackers access to Pacnet’s email and other internal business processes.
Post Your Comments