Optus warns cyberattack may have exposed Australian client details
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(Reuters) — Optus, the Australian unit of telecoms firm Singapore Telecommunications, said it was investigating the unauthorized access of customer details including home addresses, driver’s license and passport numbers, after a cyberattack.
Wireless carrier Optus said in a statement on Thursday it had immediately shut down the attack after discovering it, and that payment details and account passwords had not been compromised.
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the company had notified Australian Federal Police after noticing “unusual activity.”
Bayer Rosmarin told ABC television the company will contact high-risk customers “quite soon,” and apologized for the incident.
She said names, dates of birth and contact details had been accessed, “in some cases” the driving license number, and in “a rare number of cases the passport and the mailing address” had also been exposed.
Investigators are trying “to understand who has been accessing the data and for what purpose,” she said.
The Australian newspaper reported that up to 9 million customers may have been affected.
