Optus hackers ’very sorry’

I think most customers understand that we are not the villains, and we have not done anything deliberate to put any of our customers at risk

THE federal government is consulting with the FBI on the wide-ranging Optus data breach.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said Australian law enforcement and industry were taking the issue, which has impacted almost 10 million Australians’ private data, seriously.

The hackers responsible have apologised and claim to have deleted their sole copy of mined data hours after they released the information of 10,000 Australians impacted in the telco breach.

The hackers claiming to be responsible for obtaining nearly 10 million current and former Optus customers’ details had on Tuesday morning threatened to keep releasing tranches of data unless Optus gave in to a $US1m ($A1.5m) ransom demand.

But just hour later, the hackers changed their tune, taking to a forum on the dark web to post: “Too many eyes. We will not sale (sic) data to anyone. We can’t if we even want to: personally deleted data from drive (only copy),” they wrote.

“Sorry too (sic) 10.2000 Australian whos (sic) data was leaked … Very sorry

“Deepest apology to Optus for this. Hope all goes well from this.

“Ransom not payed (sic) but we dont care any more.

“Was mistake to scrape publish data in first place.”

The federal government is urging all Australians to not click on any suspicious links.

Mr Dreyfus said all Optus customers should be “vigilant”, as he assured impacted customers the full weight of government agencies was being thrown at the issue.

“Do not click on any links in a text message. Check all website sources – just check it is an official website before taking nay future action,” he said.

“The government as well as the AFP and other government agencies are working closely together on the Optus data breach.

“The AFP is taking this very seriously, with a large number of officers involved – working with other federal government agencies and state and territory police and with the FBI and with industry.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said she was “incredibly concerned” that personal information from the Optus breach had been offered “for free”.

She said she was particularly worried about reports

Medicare numbers had been released.

“I want to reassure Australians that the full weight of cyber security capabilities across government, including the Australian Signals Directorate, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are working around the clock to respond to this breach,” she said in a statement.

A multiagency investigation has been working overtime to find the hackers.

Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said that the company was also working hard in its efforts to track down the culprits.

“We definitely know that this is the work of some bad actors, and really they are the villains in this,” Ms Bayer Rosmarin said in an ABC Radio interview.

“Optus is doing absolutely everything possible to be transparent, to be on the front foot.

“I think most customers understand that we are not the villains, and we have not done anything deliberate to put any of our customers at risk.”

The hackers had reportedly demanded $US1m within the week or else a tranche of 10,000 records will be released every day over the coming four days.

A total of 9.8 million current and former customers have been impacted by the breach, which the government says is a major corporate failure.