Emails, names of 30,000 Telstra staff data leaked online

Just days after some 10 million Optus customers had their data compromised, Telstra staff have been hit by a breach of details involving a third party service.

Telstra said it was working with authorities, and that Telstra itself was not hacked. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

About 30,000 current and former Telstra staff have had their names and email addresses posted online following a breach of a third-party service, the telco has confirmed.

The data set, which is around five years old, was posted over the weekend to the same online forum as the Optus customer data which affected some 10 million Australians.

Telstra communications chief Alex Badenoch said in an internal staff note on the weekend the data breach came from a third party related to a rewards program for staff.

The company is working with the third party to investigate how the breach occurred, she said.

“We understand this may cause some anxiety to our people, particularly in the current climate of heightened awareness around cyber security,” Ms Badenoch said in a note to staff on Saturday.

“If you wish to find out more about the breach, or to find out if your email address was exposed, please contact our cyber team … in the meantime, we remind you as always to remain vigilant about any unexpected communications.”

It’s understsood a total of 12,800 of the 30,000 names are still employed by Telstra.

A Telstra spokesman said in a statement said the telco is working with authorities, and that Telstra itself was not hacked.

He said no customer data was taken.

“We’ve been made aware of a data breach affecting a third party that included limited Telstra employee information from 2017,” a Telstra spokesman told The Australian.

“To be clear, it was not a breach of any Telstra systems. The data released is very basic in nature – limited to full names and email addresses used to sign up to the platform.

“No customer account information was included. We believe it’s been made available now in an attempt to profit from the Optus breach.

“The relevant authorities have been notified, we’ve let current employees know, and while the data is of minimal risk to former employees, we will attempt to notify them too.”

Optus on Tuesday handed over customer data to Services Australia — a fortnight after The Australian first reported a data breach involving nearly 10 million of its customers.

Originally published as Emails, names of 30,000 Telstra staff data leaked online