![]() The class-action was filed in the Federal Court by law firm Slater and Gordon on Friday, who claim the breach created “very real risks” to Optus‘ current and past customers. Georgia encouraged people to be proactive about their online security.More than 100,000 Optus customers have launched legal action against the telco in the wake of a cyberattack, alleging the company failed to protect their personal information. ![]() People would have to supply identity documents to the agencies to have the credit lock lifted. "So if you're looking to apply for a home loan, or buy a new car or actually go get a new credit card, having your credit locked is a problem so you've got to take the good with the bad in there." "It helps lock it up, also makes your life difficult if you need credit," he said. He said people who were very concerned could ask credit agencies to lock their credit report so no lines of credit could be issued in their name. He also suggested people set up two-factor authorisation, which provides an additional layer of protection above a password, like a phone code or touch ID. ![]() He said the first thing people should do to protect themselves from scams and identity theft was to change their passwords on their most sensitive accounts, such as bank and superannuation.Įven though Optus has said passwords weren't released in the hack, Dr Foster said many passwords had already been compromised anyway, and combined with the newly stolen data, could become a treasure trove for criminals. Optus emailed some customers flagging there was a breach, but many people are waiting to hear if their information was compromised. "There's a lot of data in there and we don't really know what information needs to kept or doesn't need to be kept," he said. Jeffrey Foster, an associate professor in cyber security studies at Macquarie University, said in some cases the stolen information in the Optus case would be enough to apply for credit in the victim's name.ĭr Foster said under current laws, telecommunication companies were required to keep data for several years, even after people were no longer customers of the company. The federal government has signalled it wants new legislative reforms to focus not just on harsher penalties, but on capping how long personal data is kept for and whether the data needs to be kept at all. There have been calls for new laws to prohibit companies from engaging in unnecessary data harvesting, as well as more severe penalties for companies that fail to protect customer data.
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