Optus hack overloads credit monitor Equifax

Credit monitoring firm Equifax is scrambling to register new users after being inundated with Optus customers caught up in last month’s data breach and anxious Australians increasingly wary of identity theft.

Optus in September said it would provide some of its current and former customers with one year of free monitoring from the consumer credit reporting agency after the data of nearly 10 million users was stolen. The subscription, subsidised by Optus, allows customers to detect if personal details are being used without their authorisation.

Optus customers can’t get onto credit monitoring firm Equifax.Credit: Nikki Short

An email seen by this masthead shows Equifax is struggling to deal with demand.

“Due to the unprecedented volume of enquiries that we received in relation to the Optus Breach, we are unlikely to be able to attend to your enquiry in a timely manner,” the firm said in an email to an Optus customer almost three weeks after they attempted to activate their account.

Optus sent codes to the “most affected” current and former customers back in September. They are required to apply for an account and upload ID documents before December 31, but currently cannot do so.

A spokesperson for Equifax did not comment directly on the delays, but said demand had caused the firm to rapidly scale up its support centres.

“Equifax has seen significant increases in demand across our digital platforms and calls and emails to our support centres,” the spokesperson said. “This includes impacted Optus customers, but also enquiries from concerned Australians, who may not be Optus customers, about credit reports, credit file bans and general advice.

“A majority of customers have their service activated in real time. However, identity verification is an essential part of providing Equifax services, and should a customer require a manual identity check as part of their application with Equifax, we must ensure that all information matches and is accurate before providing the service to the customer.“

“Equifax is working to ensure all services are activated as soon as practicably possible, provided we can reasonably match identities for the service. ”

A top-level subscription at Equifax can cost up to $14.95 a month. The credit reporting body handles personal information “to provide another entity with information about the credit worthiness of an individual”, according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

The delays are the latest roadblock for Optus customers, with many of them struggling for weeks to get additional information about whether their data has been hacked and what they need to do about it.

Optus has faced intense criticism for its communications with customers, with NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello taking aim at the company over the low rate of people who have replaced their driver’s licences despite the risk of identity theft.

Customers whose passport numbers are among the up to 150,000 stolen in last month’s cyberattack were told by the federal government last week they do not need to replace their travel documents, but the numbers have been blocked from use online for identity verification.

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