Privacy, telco regulators launch Optus breach investigations

Australia’s privacy and communications regulators have launched coordinated investigations into the Optus data breach that saw the personal data of 9.8 million Australians compromised last month.

The inquiries will consider Optus’s obligations as a telco and its adherence to privacy law, including its potential failure to protect the data and “whether the information collected and retained was necessary to carry out their business”.

Serious contraventions could see Optus forced into undertakings and facing civil penalties.

Read more: Innovation Aus, 11 October, 2022