Australia takes Singtel-owned Optus to court over 2022 cyber attack

Bengaluru - Australia’s media regulator is taking legal action against telecom carrier Optus, owned by Singtel, over

a cyber attack it faced

in September 2022, Optus said on May 22.

In September 2022, Australia’s No. 2 telco faced a massive data breach which exposed customers’ personal information including home addresses, passport numbers and phone numbers. More than 10 million customers were affected.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is alleging that Optus failed to protect the confidentiality of customers’ personally identifiable information from unauthorised interference or unauthorised access.

Optus said it intends to defend the proceedings.

“At this stage, Optus Mobile is not able to determine the quantum of penalties, if any, that could arise,” the company said.

“Optus has previously apologised to its customers and has taken significant steps, including working with the police and other authorities, to protect them,” it added.

Singtel shares closed down 0.4 per cent at $2.40 on May 21. The company is due to release its second half-year results before the start of trading on May 23.

Singtel warned in April of a

$3.1 billion impairment hit and a net loss

in the second half of its 2024 financial year. It said then that about $2 billion of the total impairment provision originated from Optus’ goodwill.

The cyber attack led to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for privacy rules to be toughened to force companies to notify banks faster when they experience similar data breaches.

Ms Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Optus’ then chief executive, resigned in November 2023 following the cyber attack and a nationwide outage in 2023. REUTERS