This is not a typical T-Mobile data breach
It’s a pretty sad fact, but it’s still a fact that data breaches are pretty common these days. Cellular carriers, which contain a lot of personal, identifiable information, are common targets, and T-Mobile has been the one hit time and time again. Affected customers are usually asked to change their passwords and register for credit monitoring. But it seems like Australia is making more of a deal over a recent hack of telecom operator Optus.
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Optus first reported the data breach on September 22, but the extent of the impact would only be known in the following days: It is estimated that 9.8 million current and former customers are affected by the possible disclosure of names, dates of birth, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, Medicare -Numbers and even information from the Centrelink employment service. The company says it has worked to notify customers affected by the theft of certain data points, liaised with local, state and federal agencies, and offered credit monitoring to customers through Equifax.
On Friday, the Australian Federal Police launched a full-scale joint operation with state and territory police to protect more than 10,000 customers where more than 100 data points were disclosed. A BreachForums user who claimed to have created the record then withdrew an offer to sell (via ABC). Operation Guardian includes comprehensive monitoring of forums and other nodes on the internet and dark web for instances of data breaches and targeted crime prevention.
But the federal government isn’t happy with the amount of action Optus has taken. The ABC reports that on September 27, the federal agency Services Australia asked Optus for the full list of customers whose Medicare and Centrelink information was disclosed. Optus has not yet responded.
“Eleven days have passed since the injury,” said Bill Shorten, Secretary of State for Government Services. “It’s odd that we still can’t identify who, for example, used their Medicare information — their number — to identify themselves.”
The Labor government is also trying to tighten laws on the commercial use of data. Cybersecurity Minister Clara O’Neil said the laws enacted by the previous Liberal Nationals government are insufficient to deal with emergencies like this one.