Australia's Biggest Telecommunications Company Becomes A Cyber Attack Target

Optus experienced a cyberattack that made a number of user data leaked to the public. (photo: doc.unsplash)

JAKARTA - Australia-based telecommunications company Optus experienced a cyberattack that made a number of user data leaked to the public.

The data includes the customer's name, date of birth, phone number and email address. Optus itself is the country's second-largest telecommunications company.

Of course, they have more than ten million subscribers. Optus said it had stopped the cyberattack, but not before other details such as a driver's license and passport number were hacked.

The company said payment data and account passwords were not hacked. Even so, Optus has apologized and will be responsible and inform users whose data was a victim of hacking.

Optus also asks customers to periodically check their accounts. When interviewed by ABC TV, Chief Executive Optus, Kelly Bayer explained the name, date of birth and contact details have been accessed by hackers.

Bayer added that in some cases the number of SIMs, passports and email addresses were also revealed by hackers.

Bayer said investigators are currently trying to find out who has accessed the company's data and for what purpose the hack was.

"Optus bekerja sama dengan Pusat Keamanan Cyber Australia untuk mengurangi risiko apa pun bagi pelanggan/Optus juga telah memberitahu lembaga keuangan utama tentang masalah ini," kata perusahaan dalam keterangannya.

"While we don't know customers have suffered losses, we encourage customers to raise awareness across their accounts, including seeking unusual activity or fraud and any notice that looks strange or suspicious."

Quoted by BBC International, Friday, September 23, cybersecurity researcher Kaspersky David Embalm responded to the hacking case that befell Optus by saying the telecommunications company was quite responsible.

"It's good to see that Optus has said they will be contacting customers who are believed to be affected and they won't be sending messages in an email or via SMS (texts) message, making it clear to customers that any message they receive will be fake. It also ensures that no password or payment information is stolen," said Embal.

"However, customers must be vigilant for every fraudulent activity they see and must protect their online accounts with unique and complex passwords and use two-factor authentication," he concluded.