Category Archives: Optus

Banks raise interest rates in response to RBA – as it happened

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Australian dollar drops and shares bounce higher on reserve bank’s dovish move. This blog is now closed

Sexual violence rife on dating apps

Dating apps need to better protect their users after a study revealed high rates of sexual violence, stalking, assault and unwanted sharing of explicit images, AAP reports.

This is highly concerning given the significant and potentially long-term impacts associated with these victimisation experiences.

These impacts include poorer health and wellbeing, including overall life satisfaction, social isolation and lower self-esteem, as well as increased risk of re-victimisation.

Considering the long- and short-term implications for victim-survivors after experiencing these harmful behaviours, there is an obvious need to develop mechanisms for protecting users.

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Select group of Optus customers should cancel licences and passports immediately, minister says

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Clare O’Neil says Optus has emailed 10,200 customers who had their records posted online after 10 million people affected in larger cyber hack

The 10,200 Optus customers who had their personal records posted online last week in the wake of the telco’s massive data breach should immediately cancel their driver’s licences and passports, the federal government says.

Optus has written to the 10,200 customers exposed last Monday after 10 million Australians had their records stolen from the telco a week earlier.

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Peter FitzSimons to step down as ARM chair; protesters picket CPAC – as it happened

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FitzSimons says a new generation is stepping up to lead republic campaign. This blog is now closed

‘I managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong’: Price

Price has bragged that her first speech to parliament ended in Penny Wong fleeing the chamber.

I managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong.

I put it to Wong we need to co-design an Asian voice to parliament.

So that policies that affect Asian Australians can be their responsibility and any time I need expert advice on how to better improve Wong’s life, I can consult with the Asian voice.

I thought ‘thank you Lord for strategically placing me after my Labor colleague to deliver my first speech’.

There could be no better contrast.

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News live: Australia supports inquiry into Iran death, Wong says; first majority female high court bench

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Attorney general Mark Dreyfus has announced the appointment of justice Jayne Jagot to the high court. Follow the day’s news live

Queensland seeking partnerships from the federal government in renewable plan

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, was asked to clarify how long the state will keep exporting coal for:

There’s still going to be countries that need our coal and, of course, the metallurgical coal [that] is needed for steel production. Let’s be clear about that. Until there’s alternative to manufacturing steel, the world will still need metallurgical coal.

The plan is $62bn. We have a $6bn down payment on that … we’ve already got $11bn worth of private investment coming in.

But there will be even more coming in as well. So roughly, it will be around, over $30bn, between $30bn and $40bn we’re providing, but we’re seeking partnerships from the federal government.

Well, in Europe, of course, there’s a lot of reliance on gas coming in from the Ukraine and parts of Russia, is my understanding.

But what we’re doing here very clearly is [ensuring] that the hydro dams get built. And then, as the hydro dams come online, that’s when you start phasing down the reliance on coal-fired power stations.

We’re building sea walls as we speak. People are having to build their houses on 7-to-12-foot stilts above the ground because of the water coming underneath. Ancestral graves that the ABC has reported on are being washed away. This is happening in Queensland. It’s not just an island on the Pacific ocean. It is happening to Queenslanders. To Australians. And we all have a duty to look after one another.

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Attorney general flags urgent privacy law changes after Optus data breach

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Mark Dreyfus indicates potential reforms to laws regarding data breaches including higher penalties, mandatory precautions and customer notifications

Privacy law changes, including tougher penalties for data breaches, could be legislated as early as this year, the attorney general has said in the wake of the Optus breach.

Mark Dreyfus revealed on Thursday that in addition to completing a review of Australia’s privacy laws the Albanese government will look to legislate “even more urgent reforms” late this year or in early 2023.

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Australia news live: government asks Optus to pay for new passports after data breach; severe thunderstorm warning for Sydney

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Prime minister says Labor believes ‘Optus should pay, not taxpayers’ after customer data compromised. Follow the day’s news

Election wash-up

As we reported yesterday, the AEC will be appearing at the electoral matters parliamentary committee hearing this morning.

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Australia politics live: Labor amends Greens’ censure motion against Pauline Hanson; AEC to appear at electoral inquiry

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Shorten: ‘Optus hasn’t done enough’

Over on the Nine network Bill Shorten had a chat about Optus and the robodebt royal commission (Shorten has found his media niche in commercial tv, particularly breakfast shows).

Well, first of all, we want Optus to look after its customers. Based on what I’ve been told, Optus hasn’t done enough. They have done not enough to protect its customers and their follow up needs to be much more diligent. Clare O’Neil, our Minister for Home Affairs, is coordinating our response. I think it’s time for a giant overhaul- or not a giant overhaul, but a big overhaul of how data’s kept by our large corporations. So we’re doing everything we can to try and apprehend the hackers. But there’s no doubt that the defences of the company were, as I’ve been informed, inadequate, and they’ve got to reach out and support their customers. That’s what we want to do.

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Clare O’Neil suggests Labor may legislate fines after Optus data breach – as it happened

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The Nationals want to get back to their roots – the regions.

The country party are launching a “regional listening tour” to find out what is affecting people in the country.

Migration is not the only solution to the challenges our regions are up against,” Littleproud said.

We need to look at what can be done now to help those Australians that are already in town.

We know distance is one of the greatest barriers to opportunity. So we’re coming to your town to create this opportunity to share your concerns and help us come up with the solutions.

For example, would a Regional University Centre stop our children from leaving town? Or could paying their HELP debts be the incentive they need to stay where we need them?

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AFP investigates $1m ransom demand posted online for allegedly hacked Optus data

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Attorney general Mark Dreyfus has been briefed by the privacy commissioner about hack and is seeking ‘urgent’ meeting with telco

The Australian federal police is investigating after the data of millions of Optus customers exposed during a recent hack was allegedly put up for sale online.

On Saturday morning a post appeared on a data market from a user claiming to be in possession of the information obtained from the breach with a demand for $1m in Monero cryptocurrency.

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Optus cyber-attack: company opposed changes to privacy laws to give customers more rights over their data

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In its submission to Privacy Act review telco said giving people right to erase personal data would involve ‘significant’ hurdles and costs

Optus has repeatedly opposed a proposed change to privacy laws that would give customers the right to request their data be destroyed, with the telco arguing there were “significant hurdles” to implementing such a system and it would come at “significant cost”.

On Thursday, the company revealed it had suffered a massive cyber-attack in which the personal information of customers was stolen, including names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, addresses, and passport and driver’s licence numbers.

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Customers’ personal data stolen as Optus suffers massive cyber-attack

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Personal information of potentially millions of customers exposed, including names, dates of birth, addresses, and contact details

Optus has suffered a massive cyber-attack, with the personal information of customers stolen, including names, dates of birth, addresses, and contact details.

The telco suffered the data breach when hackers, believed to be working for a criminal or state-sponsored organisation, accessed the sensitive information by breaking through the company’s firewall.

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