How a hacker stole nearly half the population

A week and a half ago, news appeared in the Australian press, which is now unusual for many companies: the Australian telecommunications provider Optus has been hacked. However, what came to light in the following days grew into a thriller with a ten million lead cast. Because many Australians have been affected by the hack. Only 26 million people, which is almost 40 percent of the population. Some experts have called the case the worst data breach in Australian history. Meanwhile, the theft has also sparked a debate about how Australia handles data and privacy.

Also, the story gets confusing as the days go by. It started a week and a half ago on Thursday. Optus, a subsidiary of Singaporean conglomerate Singtel, went public with news that suspicious activity on the network had been noticed about 24 hours earlier. Data on current and former customers was stolen – including names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone and email contacts, and passport and driver’s license numbers. Payment details and account passwords are not compromised. This exposes victims to several things: not only are they at risk of receiving spam messages and financial fraud, but their identities can also be stolen. For example, loans can be taken on their behalf.