Australia's government media regulator, the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA), is taking legal action against Singtel-owned telecommunications company Optus for a cyber attack in 2022, which exposed the personal data of 10 million Australians.

ACMA: Optus failed to protect customers' confidential personal information

According to a press release by Optus, ACMA alleged that Optus failed to protect the confidentiality of "personally identifiable information" of its customers from unauthorised interference or access under the country's Telecommunications Act.

Optus said it is currently unable to determine the quantum of penalties that might arise and added that it intends to defend itself at these proceedings.

Optus also said it had apologised to its customers and taken "significant" steps, including working with the police and other authorities, to protect them.

"As the matter is now before the Australian Courts, Optus Mobile will not be commenting further at this time," the telco giant added.

Background of cyber attack

In September 2022, Optus was hit by a cyber attack which resulted in customers' names, birth dates, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers and driving licence numbers being stolen, according to the BBC.

A ransom threat of A$1.5 million (S$1.34 million) was also made by the hackers to stop the data from being sold online, Australian media News.com.au reported.

This included the release of data which contained the records of customers.

However, the hackers eventually apologised and deleted the data.

Following the cyber attack, Australia toughened its penalties for repeated breaches of customer data, with organisations now facing fines of more than A$50 million (S$44.75 million).

As for Singtel, it stuck by Optus' chief executive officer, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, following the hack.

Optus' CEO resigned in November 2023

However, Rosmarin's position became less tenable following a 12-hour outage in November 2023 that left nearly half of Australia's 26 million people without phone or internet.

The outage led to public backlash in Australia and a stock sell-off in Singapore.

Rosmarin resigned two weeks after the outage.

In a press release about Rosmarin's resignation, Singtel said she had delivered improved financial performance, market share gains, innovation and higher employee engagement.

Singtel Group's chief executive officer, Yuen Kuan Moon, said:

"We recognise the need for Optus to regain customer trust and confidence as the team works through the impact and consequences of the recent outage and continues to improve. Optus’ priority is about setting on a path of renewal for the benefit of the community and customers."

Singtel reports a 64 per cent drop in profits for FY2024 after impairment provisions for Optus

In another press release on May 23, 2024, Singtel said its net profit for the fiscal year of 2024 (FY2024) had fallen by 64 per cent to S$795 million from S$2.23 billion in FY2023.

Earlier on Apr. 29, 2024, Singtel announced "exceptional" non-cash impairment provisions of S$3.1 billion.

Most of this non-cash impairment provisions came from Optus and comprised a charge of approximately S$2 billion on the goodwill of Optus, along with charge on Optus' fixed network assets, at about S$470 million.

The impairment provisions also pushed Singtel into the red for the second half of FY2024 with a net loss of S$1.3 billion, compared to S$1.1 billion in net profits during the same period in FY2023.

Singtel added that if the non-cash impairment charges are excluded however, its underlying net profit increased by 10 per cent to S$2.26 billion, reflecting increased contributions from regional associates such as Airtel and AIS as well as higher interest income from capital recycling.

Top photo via Optus/Facebook