Australia’s second-largest telecommunication firm, Optus, is the latest cyberattack victim, which Sydney-based tech analyst Trevor Long has regarded as the biggest breach of personal data from an Australian firm.
Optus Hack Details.
On Thursday, Optus confirmed that its customers’ private data could be compromised in this attack since the attackers managed to access the customer identity database and opened it to other systems through the Application Programming Interface (API). The investigation is still ongoing, but Optus believes one of the networks was exposed to a test network with internet access.
According to the official press release, the information potentially exposed includes the following:
- Names
- Addresses
- Dates of birth
- Phone numbers
- Email addresses
- Driver’s license
- Passport numbers.
The company suspects intruders scraped the consumer database and possibly copied one-third of it. Optus also stated that its network was accessed from an external source. As soon as it discovered the attack, it shut down the attack before customers could suffer any harm. However, the company did advise its customers to keep tracking their accounts for unusual or fraudulent activities.