Stock Market News

Two Australian regulators open investigations into Optus after data breach

2022.10.10 22:28



© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A woman uses her mobile phone as she walks past in front of an Optus shop in Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Two Australian regulators said on Tuesday they have opened investigations into Optus, the country’s No. 2 telecoms provider, after a breach of its systems resulted in the theft of personal data from up to 10 million accounts.

The probes only add to headaches for Optus, which disclosed the breach on Sept. 22 and has since come under heavy fire from the government and the public for not preventing the massive cyberattack.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) said it was investigating whether the Singapore Telecommunications Ltd-owned company took reasonable steps to protect customer data and comply with privacy laws.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said it was investigating whether Optus met its industry obligations as a telecommunications provider in terms of the keeping and disposing of personal data.

Amid the widening fallout, the federal government has flagged it will overhaul data security laws to force firms which have had a cyberattack to notify banks about customers who may be compromised. Several law firms are also considering filing class action lawsuits.

The OAIC said in a statement if it finds that “interference with the privacy of one or more individuals has occurred”, it may force Optus to take steps to ensure the breach cannot be repeated.

The agency added that it finds there was a breach of Australian privacy law, it can seek civil penalties of up to A$2.2 million ($1.4 million) per contravention.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement that failure by telecommunications providers to safeguard customer information “has significant consequences for all involved”.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told a parliamentary hearing the regulator was receiving 600 calls a day from people concerned about the Optus breach, although few had been scammed as a result.

($1 = 1.5881 Australian dollars)



Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,107.29 0.20%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,372.33 1.69%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.12%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 252.96 2.27%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 660.45 0.12%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.40 5.01%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.423772 4.10%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.11%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.02 6.32%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,369.71 1.79%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.208936 3.05%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 41.36 2.64%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.09 5.20%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.516832 14.84%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 5.89%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,991.59 1.69%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,748.19 0.30%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.70 7.59%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.80 1.43%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 511.25 1.85%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,373.59 1.65%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.37 4.70%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.97 7.61%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 4.02%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.61 0.50%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 96.65 5.32%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.27 7.57%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.90 0.85%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,549.92 1.79%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.33 5.46%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.140576 8.44%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.12%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.185676 6.34%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.558734 5.82%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.50 6.21%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 8.04 0.36%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.51 3.05%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 528.78 2.34%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.10%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.151623 2.33%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.47 1.16%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 2.34 9.74%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000046 5.19%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.12%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.850482 5.21%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.042605 2.01%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.61 6.98%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.50 9.50%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 54.94 6.32%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.65 2.49%