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In September 2022 private data for around 9 million Optus users was stolen.
In response, the CEO of Optus Australia has offered an emotional apology after customers raged about the hack online. A statement from Optus said that 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.
It is thought that 2.8 million people had all of their details taken, while information for around 7 million people which included DOB, email address, and phone numbers was stolen. Optus is "very sorry" and knows that "customers will be concerned". Optus has said its services were not affected in the breach and remain safe to use, with messages and voice calls not compromised.
Customers have taken to social media to say that the telco had not yet contacted them to make them aware of the breach.
Nothing to worry about. Just another online day in Australia.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 26 2022, @11:53PM
For decades many companies in Australia have been collecting all possible data. I had a run in with a place selling sauces for whom wanted far too much personal data for an online purchase. Now, your DOB name real address and so on is everywhere. Electricity account, gas, phone, you name it.
While there is a law designed to prevent burner phones it does not work. The easy dodge is where one person signs up for lots of services. They curtailed that. If you have more than 5 sims you go on a watch list. The other way around is money. So much for trying, it just affects everyday people.
Many companies get cagey when asked why they need DOB and licence. By law they should admit that they want to do a credit check. Really they don't. Front end staff are not paid enough to care.
With all of this personal data in so many places, many of them with websites like Optus, it is only a matter of time before the next data breach. The price we pay.