Optus’ ‘opaque’ Singapore owner faces scrutiny over hacking attack

Lucas Baird and Mark Di Stefano

Sep 30, 2022 – 4.59pm

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Hours after Optus announced possibly the largest data breach in Australian history, one Singapore-based board director placed a call. The non-executive director of Singtel, the parent company of Optus, was seeking the advice of an Australian cybersecurity and privacy advocate.

The advocate, speaking to AFR Weekend on the condition of anonymity, said the board member asked them for their advice on details about the hack. They wanted to know which part of the organisation had likely failed.

Lucas Baird is a journalist based in The Australian Financial Review's Sydney office.

Mark Di Stefano is Rear Window columnist, based in the Sydney newsroom. He previously worked at BuzzFeed, the Financial Times and The Information before joining the Financial Review as a media and tech correspondent.