The Optus data breach - what does this mean for YOU?

The recent notification that Australia's second largest Telecommunication company was hacked, leading to the personal details of up to 10m of current and former details being stolen has caused panic within the Australian community. But what does it actually mean?

If you are affected, it means that your personal identifiable information, contact details and even identification details could now be in the hands of criminals. This could result in a myriad of problems for not only you as an individual but also if you run a business.

Initially, the primary public concern is that the affected individuals could be the victim of a scam. Scams generally follow the same pattern but present in a variety of ways. Whether these are remote access scams, extortion scams or romance scams, the victim will be contacted before the scammer attempts to convince you their story is true (commonly referred to as the grooming stage), before you are asked to part with money. This part is called the sting, aptly named because it hurts

With the additional personal information about you now available, this means the scammer has more information to help convince you they are legitimate - they know your name, your address, date of birth, email etc. This plays to safety; you are more likely to trust these people and therefore more likely to believe their story and more likely to part with your money. Don't. If you receive unsolicited contact from someone, stay vigilant and contact them back on the official line for the business, which can be obtained from Google, to verify the legitimacy of the call.

This is not the only concern though. The level of information now in the public domain could lead to people attempting to open bank accounts in your name or even worse, obtaining a lending or credit facility in your name. A little bit more difficult to stop but there are tools out there to assist in stopping this.

The level of information now available also raises concerns regarding account protection and multi factor authentication. Is there enough information for a third party to gain access to your customer profile at a bank or a provider you use to gain further access to your information or your accounts? Each provider you use has different security measures in place to protect your account with them but with your personal details, mobile phone number and email address available, there is an added layer of risk, particularly if your email address (for example) is used for multi-factor authentication and you use a password that is used at other sites to login that has been hacked and is available, or you use an easily guessed password such as your date of birth, pet or child's name.

And if you are a business where customers can sign up online, you are also at risk. False customers can now onboard to your business and purchase goods with stolen credit card details (the official information is that payment details have not been breached but if offenders obtain this from elsewhere, payments can be made to your card or someone else's).

If you are concerned and want assistance, please contact us. We're here to help. Stay safe.