Reported by Reuters, Telstra Corp Ltd, Australia’s largest telecoms firm, said on Tuesday it had experienced a “small data breach,” two weeks after its main competitor Optus was hit by a massive cyberattack.
According to Telstra, a third-party intrusion resulted in the exposure of employee data dating back to 2017, with 18.8 million customer accounts equivalent to three-quarters of Australia’s population.
According to local media, a Telstra internal staff email said that the data leak affected 30,000 current and former employees.
The data taken was “fundamental in nature”, limited to names and email addresses, a company spokesperson said in a statement.
“We believe it’s been made available now in an attempt to profit from the Optus breach,” the spokesperson said without elaborating.
Telstra declined to comment on how many people were affected by the data breach or when it occurred but said it only impacted current and former employees.
Since Sept. 22, when Optus revealed that it had been the victim of a data breach that may have affected up to 10 million customers’ accounts, Australia’s communications, financial, and government industries have all been on high alert. The information stolen included home addresses, driving licenses, and passport numbers.
The Australian government believes the breach was caused by a fundamental security failure and has criticized Optus for calling it sophisticated and for taking too long to inform customers.
“Optus senior management is kidding themselves if they want a medal for how they’ve been communicating,” Government Services Minister Bill Shorten told reporters on Tuesday.
“Not even a crocodile’s going to swallow that.”
A spokesperson for Optus told Business Insider it does not plan to comment on Bill Shorten’s statement. However, the firm is working as quickly as possible to provide accurate information to affected clients, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
