The attacker likely scripted the process to repeat requests from the endpoint until they had collected millions of instances of personally identifiable information. Early on Saturday, an internet user published data samples on an online forum and demanded a ransom of $1m (A$1.5m; 938,000) in cryptocurrency from Optus. Have I Been Pwned? These changes will reduce the impact of this data breach on Optus customers and enable financial institutions and Government agencies to implement enhanced safeguards and monitoring. At this stage it was anywhere between 2.5 million and 9 million customers impacted. Check your credit and consider a credit freeze. The OAIC released a statement that Optus had informed them of the breach. While its current NBN plans come with no lock-in contract, youll need to pay out the remaining cost of your modem if you decide to leave within 36 months of signing up. It also emerged some customers' Medicare details - government identification numbers that could provide access to medical records - had also been stolen, something Optus did not previously disclose. IDCARE is Australia and New Zealand's national identity and cyber support service, they provide a free and confidential support service for those impacted by scams and identity crimes. Home; Help . Optus, Australia's second-largest telco, suffered a major data breach on Wednesday, Sept 21, with potentially millions of customers' personal information leaked by a malicious cyber-attack. An unidentified person later posted online that they had released personal details of 10,000 Optus customers and would keep doing so daily until they received $1 million. Unfortunately, this breach of data doesn't just impact current Optus customers. The incident is still under investigation. Optus did not pay the demanded $1 million . Optus said it was investigating the breach and had notified police, financial institutions, and government regulators. Digital security experts explain. A threat actor (s) managed to access the personal details of millions of Optus customers. O Ciberataque Optus foi um dos maiores roubos de dados mveis da histria da Austrlia, que foi revelado ao pblico no dia 23 de setembro de 2022, quando a diretora da empresa, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, anunciou publicamente que 9.8 milhes de usurios foram . 2022 BBC. The easiest way to do this is by using your Medicare online account through myGov. In an emotional apology, Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin called it a "sophisticated attack", saying the company has very strong cybersecurity. According to Australias minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, Clare ONeil, 9.8 million people have had their private data stolen, including names, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses. But this week has seen more dramatic and messy developments - including ransom threats, tense public exchanges and scrutiny over whether this constituted a "hack" at all. We dont yet know the truth of the matter, and theres a chance we never will. If Optus has advised you that your Medicare card number was exposed and you're concerned, you can replace your Medicare card. Over 3.7 . The breach highlights how much Australia lags behind other parts of the world on privacy and cyber issues, Ms O'Neil says. For more information go to Cyberattack Support (optus.com.au) or contact Optus customer service directly on 133 937. As at 14October2022, the Register includes around 100,000 Australian Passports. The Department of Home Affairs has established a Commonwealth Credential Protection Register to help stop compromised identities from being used fraudulently. The Government is looking at all possible solutions to protect and reissue victims identity documents. The Conversation (opens in new tab) has a valuable step-by-step guide you can reference in this process. But just hours later, the user apologised - saying it had been a "mistake" - and deleted the previously posted data sets. I suspect the amount of exposure the incident received plus the AFP involvement and commentary from high-level politicians spooked them, he said. What have we learned after the Optus cybersecurity attack? This may include committing fraud, where they draw funds from existing accounts, and theft, where they create new accounts in a victim's name. Tell us why this information was helpful and well work on making more pages like it, Practical steps to keep yourself and your family secure, How to protect your business and staff from common cyber threats, Understand how to protect your organisation from cyber threats, Strategies to protect your organisation from cyber threats, Interactive tools and advice to boost your online safety, Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra, Australian Government - Australian cyber security centre, Getting your business back up and running, Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents, Gateway and Cross Domain Solution guidance, Report a cyber security incident for critical infrastructure, Report a cybercrime or cyber security incident, apply for a Commonwealth Victims' Certificate, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of the TIO process, you can lodge a privacy complaint with the OAIC. Queen Letizia of Spain flashes some leg as she dons a chic 112 check skirt from H&M with a large cut out as . Optus said it was investigating the breach and had notified police, financial institutions, and government regulators. In a new post, they wrote they had deleted the only copy of the data they had, and apologised to affected Optus customers. On 22nd September 2022, Optus issued a media release notifying customers that Optus had been subject to a cyberattack, resulting in the disclosure of customer information. It is not clear whether Optusdata is the person responsible for the attack, or whether they are the only person who has access to the data. The information which has been exposed is a combination of your name, date of birth, email, phone number and/or address associated with your account. A class-action lawsuit could soon be filed against the company. You should also visit IDCare (opens in new tab), a national identity and cyber support service all of these websites have detailed advice for what to do if your datas been hacked. If you are concerned that your identity has been compromised or you have been a victim of a scam, contact your bank immediately and callIDCAREon1800595160. Now, we're not talking about the phone number and the name, nooo, basically everything that . Last week, Australian telecommunications giant Optus revealed about 10 million customers - about 40% of the population - had personal data stolen in what it calls a cyber-attack. The Optus data breach occurred through an unprotected and publically exposed API. In contrast, Australias minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, Clare ONeill, described the breach as a basic hack when speaking to the ABCs 7:30 program (opens in new tab). The Optus hack is a blunt reminder that your personal information is constantly at risk of exposure in the digital age. You may also face cancellation fees if you have an Optus NBN plan (opens in new tab). . Passports are still safe to use for international travel. "A Sydney man has been arrested over an alleged SMS scam using information obtained in the Optus data breach, the Australian Federal Police have confirmed," KIIS 106.5 FM's newsreader announced. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. No ID document numbers or details have been affected.". "Too many eyes. If youre a current Optus customer, you may understandably be looking to switch providers. The personal information of current and former Optus customers was obtained in the data breach, impacting up to 9.8 million individuals. In an ABC television interview on Monday, Cyber Security Minister Clare O'Neil was asked: "You certainly don't seem to be buying the line from Optus that this was a sophisticated attack?". In another escalation on Tuesday, the person claiming to be the hacker released 10,000 customer records and reiterated the ransom deadline. You should also know that costs and exit fees may be required if you decide to switch from Optus. The hackers claiming to be behind the attack are asking for $1 million USD which is about $1.5 million AUD. Services Australia will allow you to replace your Medicare card for free. Vit. Optus says it is required to keep identity data for six years under the current rules. Jasmine is a full-time writer over on our sister site TechRadar, but also moonlights on Tom's Guide Australia. But he said attackers tended to not target a single organisation. Details. Optus Data Breach compensation: Optus Data Breach Class Action investigations are already started. If you want DIA to apply a block in DVS, email us at: passportsafe@dia.govt.nz. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has launched Operation HURRICANE to investigate the criminal aspects of the breach. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. That's one of the reasons Optus is offering the most affected customers a free 12-month subscription to Equifax Protect. The latest such breach attributed to negligence with APIs, or application programming interfaces that are used for exchanging data across applications, is the massive theft of customer data from Australian telecom Optus.. First disclosed by Optus on Sept. 22, the data exposed in the breach of 9.8 million customer records includes driver's licenses, passports, and Medicare ID numbers, in . scamwatch.gov.au and check cyber.gov.au for information about cyber security. If you are unable to resolve your complaint with Optus, you may wish to lodge a complaint with theTelecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. This means that an individual or group that has fraudulently obtained these identity documents can open new bank accounts, withdraw superannuation and otherwise commit fraudulent acts under the name of the person whose identity they have stolen. The company had a week to pay or the other stolen data would be sold off in batches, the person said. Tom's Guide is supported by its audience. Other attackers could have accessed the data via the same vulnerability, and the data may not have actually been deleted. Affected by the Optus hack? If the details of 10,000 users were in fact released, unfortunately there is no way of checking if you were part of that group at least right now. Optus has said it was the target of a "sophisticated attack". The . Optus asking for and keeping unnecessary data (some people involved are those who applied for a product but ended up not getting it but yet their data remained on the file and they were informed as part of the breach) Optus taking more than 24 hours (more like 48) after media announcement to inform individual customers affected An official inquiry noted trade in stolen Medicare numbers on the dark web. The breach appears to have originated overseas, local media reported. According to Australia's minister for Home Affairs and . You should absolutely sign up to the credit monitoring service if youre given the option. While neither the Australian Federal Police (AFP) nor Optus have verified the legitimacy of the ransom demand, some cybersecurity experts such as Kirk do believe that the ransom demand was legitimate. Hope all goes well from this.". Australian Government agencies have developed a fact sheet about the Optus data breach. Optus data breach customers can ban access to their credit report. It was now widely reported across media outlets. That sparked speculation about whether Optus had paid the ransom - which the company denies - or whether the user had been spooked by the police investigation. Alleged Optus hacker apologises for data breach and drops ransom threat, Sophisticated attack or human error? Optus says that payment details and account passwords were not compromised in the data breach. Ex-customers should also have the right to request companies delete their data, experts say. As customers now work to update their compromised information, scammers are posing as the Optus billing department and security department, Medicare, and even as the hackers involved in the initial data breach.. Opportunistic scammers have been using the recent Optus data breach to roll out a wide variety of scams. A threat actor (s) managed to access the personal details of millions of Optus customers. The OAIC recognises the TIO as an external dispute resolution scheme that handles privacy-related complaints under the Privacy Act 1988. If your identity has been stolen,you can apply for a Commonwealth Victims' Certificate. The 100-point identity check was instituted in 1988, long before anyone could have imagined a remote data breach of the kind seen at Optus. Oct 11, 2022 - 5.00am Australian businesses are rushing to check they aren't flouting privacy rules, and hoarding data for longer than allowed, as the fallout from the high-profile customer. The same goes for its 5G and 4G plans. The massive Optus data breach that could have compromised the personal data of more than 10 million users has once again cast the spotlight on the cyber resilience of . Optus says the stolen data includes names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and for a portion of the affected customers, identification numbers including passport numbers, drivers licence numbers and Medicare numbers. If youre a current or previous Optus customer, be vigilant to scammers trying to contact you via phone call, email and SMS. Check bank statements regularly and request a credit report to ensure no one has fraudulently taken out a loan in your name. Twitter users jump to Mastodon - but what is it? "We are probably a decade behind where we ought to be," she told the ABC. With the telco also covering the cost of one year of credit monitoring service Equifax Protect (opens in new tab), the cost of the Optus data breach continues to grow. The government has called the breach "unprecedented" and blamed Optus, saying it "effectively left the window open" for sensitive data to be stolen. On 24 September, Optus announced it had experienced a cyberattack on 22 September 2022, which may have resulted in unauthorised access to current and former customers' information. . The Australian mobile operator also has brought in . Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin described the breach as the . you can contact IDCARE on 1800 595 160. You can contact IDCARE for free support on 1800 595 . Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning. How your data is being scraped from social media, Dont underestimate Russian cyber-threat, warns US, The three Russian cyber-attacks the West most fears, Final hours before US midterms with key races on a knife-edge, Ukraine is reason to act fast on climate - PM, Fisherman tried to break window to save pilots, Looking for clues in video of forgotten massacre. Beware of phishing emails, and consider signing up for one of the best antivirus software (opens in new tab) suites to better protect your digital devices. Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus . You can also report scams to Scamwatch www. 02 Oct, 2022, 10.50 AM IST. The federal government is looking at urgent reform in this area, including making it easier to alert banks to which of their customers may have been compromised. Please read our latest news article on our recommendations. The telecommunications giant has tasked credit . In the instance, where a public API endpoint did not require authentication, anyone on the internet with knowledge of that endpoint [URL] could use it, said senior manager of cyber security consulting for Moss Adams, Corey J Ball. This will prevent credentials that are included on the Register from being used fraudulently. Google searches for 'identity theft' in the last month alone have seen a 377 per cent increase amid the fallout of a breach that exposed 10 million current and former Optus customers. There is no way to verify this. Customers will need to pay for their replacement passport upfront and then seek a reimbursement from Optus. Optus Data Breach Just the Beginning. This will protect you from unauthorised DVS checks . It maintains the attack was sophisticated, but the home affairs minister, Claire ONeil, has said the vulnerability was akin to Optus leaving a window open. If your personal information has been misused as result of the Optus incident, please contact IDCARE on 1800 595 160 and use reference code "WBCIDC", for assistance and guidance on the steps to take to work through this. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Morning Mail, Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter. The OAIC said its investigation will concentrate on whether Optus took reasonable steps to protect the personal information from "misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure". Adding to the problem, others on the forum had copied the now-deleted data sets, and continued to distribute them. Australia's second-largest telecoms provider said current and former customers' data was stolen - including names, birthdates, home addresses, phone and email contacts, and passport and driving licence numbers. Learn how to protect yourself from scams by visiting www.scamwatch.gov.au. Ms O'Neil pointed to two areas needing urgent reform. The Australian federal police are working with law enforcement authorities overseas, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US, to locate whoever obtained the data, and who tried to sell it. Other websites that can help you protect yourself and stay informed: If you wish to make a privacy complaint, please contact Optus. Up to 10 million Optus customers are believed to have had their details accessed by an unknown hacker. Services Australia has also put in place additional security measures to protect your information. Best Black Friday deals LIVE: 4K TVs, laptops, headphones, and more, The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviews, Try a single issue or save on a subscription, Issues delivered straight to your door or device, 2.8 million records included sensitive identity data, 10,000 records claimed to have been leaked online, Be vigilant of suspicious emails, calls and SMS, Other telcos may be vulnerable to similar cyber attacks, Youll need to pay out the remaining cost of your mobile if you want to switch, Youll need to pay out the remaining cost of your modem, or pay exit fees, Reports suggest Optus left an API exposed, Little verified detail available at this stage, Australian Government announced plans to tighten privacy laws, Calls for Optus to pay for new passports and drivers licences. Optus has suffered a massive data breach, compromising the personal information of up to 9 million customers. Some experts. They can help secure your accounts if they have been compromised. The only person to come forward since then, claiming to have the data is a user called Optusdata on a data breach forum. Last week, Australian telecommunications giant Optus revealed about 10 million customers - about 40% of the population - had personal data stolen in what it calls a cyber-attack. There are a number of resources that . "I think most customers understand that we are not the villains," she said, adding Optus could not say more while the investigation was ongoing. Optus customers dating back to 2017 are advised they could be at risk of identity theft after the malicious data breach. The New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia governments on Tuesday evening began clearing the bureaucratic hurdles for anyone who can prove they are victims of the . Australians caught up in a massive breach of Optus data will be able to change their driver's licence numbers and get new cards, with the telco expected to bear the multimillion-dollar cost of the changeover. As the fallout continued over the past week . Who is the attacker? The Optus Data Breach has, appropriately, directed huge focus onto the cyber security processes of that organisation. In one case, Optus refused to compensate a customer for running a $15 credit check and in another, a young mum has discovered that she is unable to change her mobile phone number to better protect . Check your renewal notice to see if you can renew online or in person. More than 11 million Optus customers had personal details stolen in data breach Those who experience financial loss may be able to claim compensation Customer would need to prove Optus. Be alert for scams referencing the Optus data breach. 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