A 19-year-old Sydney teen has been arrested over an “alleged SMS scam using information obtained from the Optus data breach”, as per a statement released by the Australian Federal Police.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Cyber Command Justine Gough is scheduled to share more information about the arrest this afternoon (AEST).
Seven million Optus customers had information like their dates of birth, email addresses and phone numbers taken and an additional 2.8 million Optus customers had their passport numbers and driver’s license numbers taken too last month by the hackers who accessed and obtained data from the telecommunications company. This information can be used to take out loans and credit, and to commit identity theft.
On the day of the attack, Optus released a statement informing the general public about what had happened.
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Optus chief executive, confirmed the breach on August 22nd in a statement 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.”
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All Optus customers who were affected by the breach were contacted via email and SMS.
To help protect Aussies from possible identity theft, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Optus will cover the costs of new passports for all those affected.
“Optus have responded to the request that I made both in the parliament and that Senator Wong made in writing to Optus … they will cover the costs of replacing affected customers’ passports,” he told reporters after a meeting of national cabinet.
“I think that’s entirely appropriate. I find it extraordinary that the Federal Opposition called upon taxpayers to foot the bill.”
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