Australian Communications Media Authority takes Optus to court over breach
The communications watchdog has filed federal court proceedings against Optus over its actions and a data breach affecting 10 million of its customers in 2022.
The nation’s second-largest telco is facing Federal Court action after the communications watchdog filed a claim that it failed to protect its customers’ confidentiality.
The Australian Communications Media Authority has filed proceedings on the basis that Optus’s action on September 17 and 20, 2022, did not meet the requirements of the Telecommunications act.
“The ACMA has filed proceedings in the Federal Court against Optus Mobile Pty Ltd (Optus). We allege that during a data breach … between 17 to 20 September 2022, Optus failed to protect the confidentiality of its customers’ personal information from unauthorised interference or unauthorised access as required under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth),” the ACMA said in a statement.
Optus interim boss Michael Venter told The Australian on Thursday that while Optus was deeply sorry about the incident, it did intend to defend the claims.
“We are not being defensive about it, we accept that we should have done better,” he said. “We will be defending the court action … it is just way too early to start speculating on what a possible regulatory action could look like.”
The data breach affected 10 million Optus customers in 2022, and is among the five largest breaches in Australia. It resulted in as many as 150,000 passport numbers and 50,000 Medicare numbers being stolen.
The hacker initially demanded $1.5m in Monero cryptocurrency and published 10,000 customers’ records online before claiming they deleted the data.
Several law firms, including Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and Slater and Gordon, have announced they are attempting a class action against the telco, accusing it of failing to protect both current and legacy customers.
Maurice Blackburn principal Vavaa Mawuli told The Australian consumers expected their data would be stored securely when handing it over to companies for verification purposes.
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