While Optus fails to do much at all communicating with customers, in particular the most affected – those 10,000 whose details were already released by aleged hackers, the Australian Federal Police aren’t mucking around.
The AFP along with State and Territory Police departments across Australia have formed the operation to ensure the identity protection of the more 10,200 people who’s data was supplied as evidence the alleged hacker behind a $1million ransom was legitimate.
A Joint Partnership is being formed between law enforcement and the private sector to lessen the threat of identity fraud on those people and many more.
First they will identify those 10,000 or more people – something Optus has not bothered to do.
For them there will be online forum monitoring and dark web monitoring to check for exploitaton of their information.
The taskforce will also engage with the Financial services industry to detect any criminal activity related to the breach, and keep an eye on ReportCyber to see if ther are any links between exploitations and of course, most importantly attempt to disrupt and idenitfy the criminals.
The AFP’s Assistant Commissioner Cyber Command Justine Gough said it may not be just the 10,000 names “Australian law enforcement agencies are working together and with industry partners to actively monitor any subsequent misuse of the data,’’.
“Australian law enforcement are aware of current criminal activity attempting to target and exploit impacted Optus customers that have been the subject of this data breach.
“Operation Guardian should send a clear warning to cybercriminals. The AFP, state and territory police plus other agencies through the JPC3 have a laser-like focus, plus a significant number of resources and legislative powers, to identify cybercrime targets.”
The AFP does credit Optus with their early engagement with Law enforcement and continued full co-operation.
Advice from the AFP today for the public is to :
ID Care, the organisation that provides support services after people suffer identity fraud, say they have had more than 10,000 requests for information from the public since the Optus attack. There’s a lot of work ahead for a lot of organisations.
Finally, the AFP advise that if you believe you are a victim of Cybercrime, report it to ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair.
Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave.
If you're still catching up on Quantum Dots, OLED, Mini LED and are thinking that…
The NBN is getting ready to lock in the final stage of the Fibre to…
BMW has revealed the first new model to be designed and engineered under their 2025…
The SwannBuddy4K Video Doorbell with SwannShield™AI Voice Assistant has been given an Honouree accolade for…
Reolink is a bit of an upstart when it comes to home security but having…
LG has announced its vision for AI-powered living at IFA 2025 under the moniker “LG…