Following the Optus data breach that affected millions of users, a new breach at another Australian telecommunications company, Telstra , has come to light .
Up to 30,000 names and email addresses of past and present Telstra employees were uploaded to the same forumwhere the Optus breach a few days ago. However, the company says it was not its own systems that were breached, but those of a third-party provider.
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"It was a third party provider that was breached," a Telstra spokesperson said. "This is not a Telstra data breach, it has nothing to do with our systems or networks. The data contained, which is staff names and email addresses, is from 2017.It is approximately six years old."
Telstra confirmed: "This concerns employees , many of whom no longer work for the company."
“We have been made aware of a data breach affecting a third party that included limited Telstra employee information from 2017“.
The spokesperson was keen to make it clear that Telstra's systems were never breached: "To be clear, this was not a breach of any Telstra systems. The data published is very basic – limited to full names and email addresses used to register on the platform."
The company spokesperson also emphasized that no account by this incident.
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Telstra says it has notified the relevant authorities as well as current employees affected by the data. It also said that while the leaked data is not particularly dangerous, the company will try to contact any former employees who are affected.
There is no highly sensitive personal information involved in the data breach, as only the first and last names and corporate email of Telstra employees were shared.
On Saturday, Alex Badenoch, a Telstra group executive, said the data came from a third party that had provided a rewards program for Telstra staff.
A total of 12,800 of the 30,000 names leaked belong to people who still work at Telstra.
"We understand this may cause some stress for our people, particularly in the current climate of heightened awareness around cybersecurity," Telstra told staff.
“If you would like to learn more about the data or to find out if your email address was exposed, please contact our cyber team… In the meantime, we remind you, as always, to be vigilant for any unexpected communications.“.
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Telstra is reportedly working with cybersecurity experts to determine the cause of the breach.
The Telstra employee data breach comes just days after the revelation of a data breach at telecoms company Optus. That breach affected millions of Australians, whose personal details – including names, addresses, passports and driving licences, among others – were exposed. The breach has affected current and former Optus.
Across the country, people are lining up to change their personal information, including driver's license and passport numbers.
Source: www.news.com.au
