After Optus disclosed its massive data breach on Thursday, customers began receiving emails notifying them that their personal information was being accessed.
The telco said that while no financial information or passwords were accessed, the leaked information was customers’ names, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses associated with their accounts and details of identification documents such as driver’s license numbers or passport number. Client compromises.
Optus did not reveal how many of its users in Australia were at risk of a breach, but Home Secretary Claire O’Neill told parliament on Monday that 9.8 million people were affected, 2.8 million of whom held “substantial amounts of data”. has been lost. .
If you are one of those affected, you may be wondering what your next steps should be. Guardian Australia has sought advice from experts.
“There’s no need to panic and change everything right away,” said Nick Klein, executive director of digital forensics and incident response at CyberCX.
Klein recommends that Optus customers use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication for all online accounts, especially important accounts such as banking and email.
Toby Murray, an associate professor of cybersecurity at the University of Melbourne, was one of those whose data was breached.
As a first step in preventing fraud, Murray recommends calling your bank and asking them to set up additional verification methods for your account (such as additional security questions), especially phone authentication.
Murray said Optus customers might consider charging other valuable accounts, such as superannuation providers or Centrelink.
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