Australia’s second-largest telco will expand its mobile coverage to 100 percent of the country after signing a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture, Starlink. The deal, announced on Wednesday, will see Optus use low-Earth orbit satellites to deliver voice calls, data and SMS messages in an Australian first when services launch in the next two…

Over 100,000 former and current Optus customers affected by a massive data breach in 2022 have taken court action against the Australian telco giant. On April 21, law firm Slater and Gordon announced that it had launched a class action lawsuit on behalf of Optus customers whose personal information was compromised when a group of…

No Optus customer suffered financial harm as a result of the hack on the telecommunications provider, CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin says. While Optus initially flagged 9.8 million customers could be “potentially impacted” in the September data breach, the details of 10,200 customers were actually exposed publicly, Bayer Rosmarin told the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in…

Three Adelaide-based Chinese men have been charged for illegally obtaining the personal details of Spotify, Netflix, and Foxtel customers by using data leaked from Australian telecommunications giant Optus. Sheng Li, 24, on Dec. 20 faced 76 charges of money laundering and the federal charge of conspiracy, although he was initially charged with using other people’s…

More than 130,000 Telstra customers have had their personal details leaked online due to an internal error. The telecommunication giant on Dec. 9 said some customer’s names, addresses, and phone numbers were incorrectly listed on the White Pages and Directory Assistance Services websites that the company is responsible for providing. Telstra said no cyber activity…

The Australian Federal Court has fined the three largest internet service providers in Australia $33.5 million (US$22.15 million) for making false or misleading representations when promoting their NBN (National Broadband Network) internet plans. Specifically, the court ordered Telstra to pay $15 million in penalties, while Optus and TPG agreed to pay $13.5 million and $5…

Commentary The Russian hackers alleged to be at the centre of a major hack of Australia’s largest health insurer Medibank have followed through with threats to leak private health data belonging to Australian customers on the dark web. Medibank refused to pay a ransom demanded by the hackers, fearful that doing so would encourage further…

Commentary Numerous data breaches, which adversely affected the public image of Optus and Medibank, continue to be widely reported in the Australian media and ruefully acknowledged by the chief executive officers of these organisations. These breaches have escalated the significance of privacy and cyber security in political arenas. These data breaches have put at risk…

Almost one million Victorians will receive a new licence following the Optus hack in Australia. Unknown cyber criminals targeted the telco last month, stealing the identifying details of up to ten million Australians. Victoria’s Department of Transport will replace the licences for free by the end of the year and all new cards will feature an extra layer…

One of Australia’s largest private health insurers has suffered a cyberattack just a week after telecommunications giant Optus was spurred into damage control after the data of millions of customers was leaked. The Medibank Group, which services around 3.9 million customers, revealed on Oct. 13 that a day earlier it detected unusual activity on its…