The Telstra telco provider in Australia has unintentionally leaked the information of more than 132,000 of its customers. Based on reports, leaked data includes names, addresses, and numbers whose details were not supposed to be listed for public access.
The company apologised and stated that they were already communicating to some unlisted customers whose credentials were accidentally made available by them through the White Pages or Directory Assistance.
A Telstra representative announced that their company is deleting the identified impacted customers from the online versions of the White Pages and Directory Assistance.
The company has partnered with an NGO cybersecurity support service that specialises in crisis management and identity theft. The partnership is executed by the company to create a response plan and offer impacted customers personal aid throughout the entire issue.
The leak in the Telstra telco provider came just before they announced a minimal risk of a data breach against their firm.
According to researchers, the accidental leak came on the list of the Telstra telco provider’s disclosure of a minor data breach incident a couple of months ago. Moreover, the unfortunate issue came just weeks after its rival telecommunication provider, Optus, suffered a massive cybersecurity attack.
One of Australia’s most prominent network providers blamed the data breach on the provider of a now-disused employee rewards program.
A recent tally also showed that over 32,000 past and present Telstra employee credentials appeared in the leaked data set. Nearly 13,000 of the affected workers are still working for Telstra.
Fortunately, Telstra explained that the company has already contacted law enforcement agencies and its current employees regarding the data breach issue.
As of now, numerous reports about scams related to the leak have now circulated. A recent Tweet from one of the affected individuals said that the scammers are impersonating IT support to breach further and collect details about the telecommunication provider’s customers.
Therefore, impacted individuals, especially the current employees of Telstra, should watch out for numerous phishing attempts from different actors since they will exploit the leak to execute more cybercriminal attacks in the coming days.
