G’day,
Anyone else fall victim to the Optus hack…?
Have just basically been advised to get a new driver’s licence…
Fun.
Cheers
cosmic
You aren’t alone in that club.
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I’m with Optus but I’ve not received any emails or texts so I can only assume I wasn’t part of the group with compromised details.
Would have been nice to get a quick email or txt saying “Your data was not compromised though…”
Received a generic email that probably went to everyone to begin with, but that’s all so far.
I got another one yesterday saying to follow link to VicRoads as my license was exposed.
So, yeah, pretty frustrating.
I’m with Aussie for mobile (just swapped over) who recently changed to Optus. Aussie say that Optus have advised wholesale customers aren’t affected so hopefully that’s the case. When they say ‘old customers’, I was an Optus customer back in 2009 but I have no idea if that then includes me in the exposure.
I think you’re ok long as you haven’t received an email… but from what I’ve seen, seems to be around 2017 as cut off, maybe.
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I got that same email, the million dollar question now is if that email means that ONLY the DL was compromised or what other information they may have held??
I assume name/address/DOB and phone numbers were also compromised but wonder if Medicare was or wasn’t in that list as well?
This blog post talks about how you could see what info they were holding, but it seems Optus have cleaned it up so that doesn’t work anymore 
Is there any way to find out exactly what data they did hold?
I received the ‘You’re doomed to spend the rest of your life trying to undo all the Optus’ damage’ email. So far I’m in the process of getting a new DL. Passport doesn’t seem to be such an issue as you and passport both have to be in the same physical location at the same time.
Also, I joined an Australian-based credit reporting agency linked to Commonwealth Bank so I’ll be instantly notified if attempts are made to access my credit info. I understand the one for which Optus is paying a one-year subscription for affected clients, has previously been hacked.
I haven’t heard this mentioned anywhere but if Optus have to supposedly keep 100 point ID data for 5-7 years or so, does that mean that long-term Optus customers should be ok? I’ve had Optus cable or NBN for ~20 years.
I’m not sure how the regulations work - do they need the info 5-7 after you finish being a customer, or just from commencement…
I think this is a huge wake-up call for half the country.
I’ve never been an Optus customer but that’s the biggest surprise for me to come out of this whole thing - how many customers they have!
Received the initial warning email and nothing since. Was there a more specific email sent to those identified as compromised, or should I just assume the worst at this point?
Can’t say for sure, but after the initial email, I received a second one advising me that my driver’s license was exposed (which had been mentioned in the original email), and that I could get a new one by going to Vic Roads.
I don’t know if that meant I was in that 10,000 list of people who had their info posted online… making us more vulnerable… or - ???
Either way - especially as I’m actively looking at buying a house… I’m getting a new license…
I saw an article saying that Optus was working with the banks to monitor for signs of fraudulent activity… I use Credit Savvy for checking my credit rating, and it notes recent loans etc, so I’ve also been watching that “just in case”… but am HOPEFUL that I’m not going to end up with any major issues, especially once I get the new drivers license…
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Equifax has been breached before.
But realistically, every company has been breached or will be breached at some time in the future. It will vary depending on the severity of the breach and whether or not its something you ever hear about. No organisation, public or private is infallible.
What is more important is how the company responds to the situation and to a lesser extent, how/why they were breached.
Optus’ response has not been ideal. Not the worst i’ve seen, but definitely has room for improvement.
As for how they’ve been breached, having some infrastructure that was public facing with access to user details that was not secured properly is not a good look. There really wasn’t any hacking taking place, rather the individual involved connected via API to one of their systems and started leeching data. A lot still isn’t known. This could have been linked to another company/supplier of Optus. Or it could have just been lack of proper oversight and checking on Optus’ behalf. Time will hopefully give us some more insight into this.
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Just got an email from Optus suggesting my Queensland Driver Licence number was exposed. However I have never resided in Queensland nor had a Queensland Driver Licence.
The email is legitimate but their information is obviously incorrect. I do wish to change my Victorian Driver Licence number, even if I have to pay myself, but VicRoads is very busy right now.
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Yeah with a few thousand new licenses to do…
Got on to Credit Savvy today. Haven’t locked it yet, but good to know how easy it easy is. Just had the license renewed in May… 
RE Credit Savvy - I can’t speak to the point of it being an amazing service, but after speaking to a mortgage broker earlier this year, the info it was presenting to me appeared to be valid. It’s free, just tries to push ads / offers etc. I only chose it because it was recommended by… I think the ABC… or Choice… someone I deemed reliable!
Just hope they don’t make me go in for a new photo for my license… lol
Have registered on VicRoads to have my driver licence flagged, just in case.
https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/renew-replace-or-update/flag-your-driver-licence
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