Telecommunications company Optus has experienced a cyberattack that has reportedly leaked millions of Australians’ personal information, including their driver’s licence and passport numbers.
The Australian has reported that up to 2.8 million Optus customers had all of their private information taken, and 7 million had information like their dates of birth, email addresses and phone numbers taken by the hackers.
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Optus chief executive, confirmed the breach in a statement earlier today and confirmed that their customer’s payment information hadn’t been leaked.
“We are devastated to discover that we have been subject to a cyberattack that has resulted in the disclosure of our customers’ personal information to someone who shouldn’t see it,” the statement began.
It continued, “Information which may have been exposed includes customers’ names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, and, for a subset of customers, addresses, ID document numbers such as driver’s licence or passport numbers. Payment detail and account passwords have not been compromised..”
Rosmarin confirmed that Optus has notified the Australian Federal Police and is working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre to identify the hackers and stop any further attacks. She confirmed that the breach that occurred earlier today has been shut down
“We are very sorry and understand customers will be concerned. Please be assured that we are working hard, and engaging with all the relevant authorities and organisations, to help safeguard our customers as much as possible.”
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“As soon as we knew, we took action to block the attack and began an immediate investigation. While not everyone maybe affected and our investigation is not yet complete, we want all of our customers to be aware of what has happened as soon as possible so that they can increase their vigilance.
“Optus has also notified key financial institutions about this matter. While we are not aware of customers having suffered any harm, we encourage customers to have heightened awareness across their accounts, including looking out for unusual or fraudulent activity and any notifications which seem odd or suspicious.”
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