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Tuesday, 27 September 2022 06:49

Optus attacker exposes data of 10k, threatens to reveal more Featured

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Optus attacker exposes data of 10k, threatens to reveal more Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

The individual who claims to have breached Optus has released 10,000 address records and says a similar number will be made public each day for the next four days.

Security researcher Brett Callow of New Zealand-based Emsisoft posted the information in a tweet.

The threat by the attacker comes a day after Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil sharply criticised Optus for its inability to stop what she described as "a basic hack".

The attacker has demanded a million dollars in the Monero cryptocurrency to delete the data.

Asked for his comment on the incident, Callow said: "Were Optus to pay the criminal the million bucks that’s being demanded, it’d simply be paying on the basis of a pinkie promise that the stolen data would be destroyed.

"And as that pinkie promise would be coming from an untrustworthy bad-faith actor, it’d carry zero weight.

"The company could find itself being extorted for a second time or the data could be released online anyway. Botton line: it’d make zero sense for Optus to pay."

O'Neil was also critical of Optus' response to the breach, saying it was inadequate. She said about the data of about three million customers had been stolen.

Optus on Monday afternoon offered the most affected customers a a 12-month subscription to Equifax Protect, a credit monitoring and identity protection service.

But this offer came only after O'Neil had raised the issue in Parliament. Law firm Slater and Gordon has said it is looking at the possibility of mounting a class action on behalf of those whose data was stolen.

The minister told the ABC's 7.30 program that under existing laws she could only fine Optus a maximum of $2 million and that there was a need for bigger penalties to come into force.

O'Neil dismissed Optus' claims of the attack being "sophisticated", saying of the claim: "“Well, it wasn’t. So, no.”

She added: "We should not have a telecommunications provider in this country that has effectively left the window open for data of this nature to be stolen.”

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Sam Varghese

Sam Varghese has been writing for iTWire since 2006, a year after the site came into existence. For nearly a decade thereafter, he wrote mostly about free and open source software, based on his own use of this genre of software. Since May 2016, he has been writing across many areas of technology. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years in India (Indian Express and Deccan Herald), the UAE (Khaleej Times) and Australia (Daily Commercial News (now defunct) and The Age). His personal blog is titled Irregular Expression.

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