SINGAPORE: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) is engaging lawyers after a major data breach at its Australian unit Optus, even though the company has yet to receive any legal notice of a class action lawsuit.
Optus, Australia’s second-largest mobile-phone operator that’s owned by SingTel, said last month hackers had exposed records of 9.8 million current and former customers.
Millions of them lost details of passports, drivers licenses or medical identity cards, the Australian government said.
Reports of potential fines and costs are “speculative at this juncture” and should not be relied upon, SingTel said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.
Any potential class action will be “vigorously defended,” it added. Optus has also hired Deloitte to conduct an independent assessment of its security systems as well as the recent breach, it said in a separate statement.
The agency will work with Optus, SingTel and international cyber experts, according to the statement.
The breach, which affected over one third of the Australian population, risks wiping out more than one quarter of SingTel’s annual profit. — Bloomberg
