Optus cyberattack

2022 - 9 - 26

Post cover — Image courtesy of "7NEWS.com.au"

Optus cyber attack: Hackers behind the massive data breach ... (7NEWS.com.au)

The latest release of data comes with a warning that more will continue to be shared publicly unless Optus pays a $1.5 million ransom.

“If there are changes to the arrangements that need to be made in the future, the minister will make that clear,” he said. “But it’ll be interesting to see what data they actually release. O’Neill said at the weekend more details about the changes would be announced by the government “in the coming days”. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was working to make sure it was “responding adequately”. “This is a huge wake-up call for the corporate sector in terms of protecting the data,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Brisbane radio 4BC. In correspondence seen by 7NEWS.com.au between a customer service worker and a victim, the customer is told to be aware for scammers. “Optus will not be sending links in any emails or SMS messages to you,” the service worker wrote. “If you receive one asking you to visit a link, it may be a scammer. “The fact is you’ve got about 10 million Aussies who’ve had their information stolen last week and 2.8 million Australians have had about 100 points of identification stolen from Optus and there’ll be a lot of Aussies that are pretty anxious this morning. On Friday, a user on an online noticeboard under the pseudonym “optusdata” issued an ultimatum, as personal information was held to ransom by the supposed hacker. “Optus needs to beef up their security for a start, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not up to scratch,” she said. “Unless you are looking through the dark web and trying to find where this is, you won’t know at all,” he said.

Australian cybersecurity minister lambasts Optus for 'unprecedented ... (The Record by Recorded Future)

The Record by Recorded Future gives exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to leaders, policymakers, researchers, and the shadows of the cyber underground.

“We’ve got half of all Australian adults who have had some data breach here and it’s clearly not just between Optus and the customer. That position, she said, was undercut by the current situation with Optus. The hack involved the theft of basic personal information related to 9.8 million Australians. “Optus needs to communicate clearly to their customers about exactly what information was being taken from specific individuals and then needs to assist and support customers to manage the impacts of what is an unprecedented theft of consumer information in Australian history,” she said. Journalist Jeremy Kirk spoke with the hacker behind the incident, who claimed they gained access through an unauthenticated Application Programming Interface (API) endpoint. More alarmingly, it also included extensive personal data like license numbers and passport numbers from 2.8 million people.