As a gaming outlet we don’t often report on goings-on in the telco world unless it has some significant relevance to our readers, but given the severity and scope of this week’s cyberattack on Optus there’s a very high chance it affects quite a few of us.
Optus announced yesterday that an as-yet undetermined number of its customers (of a total of 9.8 million) have had their personal information disclosed as a result of a cyberattack, information that includes “customers’ names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, and, for a subset of customers, addresses, ID document numbers such as driver’s license or passport numbers.”
Optus says it will be contacting affected customers directly to inform them of what information specifically has been compromised.
The telco provider says that it’s not yet aware of any customer harm and hasn’t received any ransom demands, but suggests a number of actions for all of its customers out of an abundance of caution following the attack:
- Look out for any suspicious or unexpected activity across your online accounts, including your bank accounts. Make sure to report any fraudulent activity immediately to the related provider.
- Look out for contact from scammers who may have your personal information. This may include suspicious emails, texts, phone calls or messages on social media.
- Never click on any links that look suspicious and never provide your passwords, or any personal or financial information.
(2/3) While we are not aware of customers having suffered any harm, we encourage you to have a heightened awareness across your accounts, including looking out for unusual or fraudulent activity, as well as any notifications which may seem odd or suspicious.
— Optus (@Optus) September 22, 2022
We’ll update this story if anything more significant changes.
To help protect against fraud, Optus customers are encouraged to look to reputable sources such as:
