‘Vulnerable’ Optus customers left in the dark

Optus customers feel as if the telco giant has applied a ‘Band-Aid for a stab wound’, failing to provide them with sufficient information.

Madeleine Richards says she feels ‘very unsettled and a ­little violated’ over the leaking of her personal information. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Optus customers feel as if the telco giant has applied a “Band-Aid for a stab wound” as it has failed to provide the millions of people affected by the breach with sufficient information to protect themselves from identity theft.

Customers with consumer accounts, business accounts and former staff have all had their private information exposed in a breach first reported by The Australian last week.

Several Optus customers reached out, detailing what they have described as a “poor” experience that has left them feeling “vulnerable” and “unsettled”.

Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin on Tuesday said she believed customers should stick with the provider because it offered “innovative solutions” and “value for money”.

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

“My message to customers is that firstly we’re really sorry and apologetic and we are doing absolutely everything we can to ensure that the actual services that we provide to customers are all safe, operational and working well,” she said in an interview.

“And we’re also a company who will say when we’ve done something wrong and face the music for that. So we think that our customers should stick with us if we’re sticking with them.”

For some customers, there has been more correspondence from their local bank than there has been from Optus.

Melbourne-based charity worker Madeleine Richards, 29, is one such victim. She

was one of the first notified by Optus that her details had been stolen on Thursday. Over the past four days she’s contacted the telco several times seeking guidance on how she could protect herself after her name, date of birth, address and more were stolen.

“I feel very unsettled and a little bit violated that my personal information is out there and anyone can access my date of birth and my home address. I feel sort of vulnerable,” she said.

“I’m also worried about the logistical nightmare of a cyber criminal applying for a personal loan in my name or if they manage to access my bank account or completely stuff my credit rating,” she said. “It fills me with dread because I’ve been saving for a house for quite a while.”

Ms Richard said she received better advice from CBA and ING than Optus.

An Optus store on Sydney's North shore. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

“They were both very helpful. They sent me a follow up email and gave me some reassurances,” she said. “They also said that they were monitoring the situation, that they were in communication with Optus and they had hyper awareness of my accounts and anyone who is included in the data breach.”

Ms Richards added that she believed Optus should face consequences for allowing the hack to take place.

“I would like to see consequences for Optus because this isn’t fair, I haven’t done anything. It’s a violation of 10 million Australians’ privacy,” she said.

Another victim of the hack is Kristen from Victoria. The 25-year-old began receiving spam calls on Tuesday afternoon from blocked numbers.

One call she tried to return, which had not come from a private number, took her to an American voicemail.

“The resources that they’ve given us are absolutely shocking. It just feels like a Band-Aid for a stab wound. I’m a young person, and this could potentially be super, super damaging in the long run for me,” she said.

“If they have all of the information that I’ve given to Optus they could potentially not only ruin my credit rating but my whole life.”

Kristen said she reached out to Optus only to be put in a 2½ hour-long queue. Once she reached an operator, she asked which of her information was exposed only to be told “we don’t actually know yet”.

“As far as I’m aware, it’s my driver’s licence, email, Medicare number and passport that have been leaked,” Kristen said.

A friend of Kristen’s, also affected by the hack, told her she’d tried to contact VicRoads to replace her licence but was unable to do so until she had become a victim of fraud. “They’re basically saying you have to be screwed over before we can help you,” Kristen said.

In Sydney, local businesswoman Charlotte Macauley, 30, is unsure how to feel.

“I’m not sure if I should be concerned yet,” she said. “I feel the impact is going to be quite big. There should be more information being released to those affected by the hack.”

Ms Macauley said she hadn’t thought about changing mobile providers just yet as she wasn’t sure other telco providers would handle the situation differently.

“They haven’t handled themselves well but I’m not sure that any company in this situation would handle it better,” she said. “It wouldn’t make me change unless they don’t take action.”

Originally published as ‘Vulnerable’ Optus customers left in the dark