On Sunday, Australia's largest telecom company Telstra Corp Ltd reported that because of an internal technical error 132,000 users’ data have been leaked.
As per the data, Telstra has 18.8 million customer accounts which is more than the half population of Australia.
Further, continuing the report, the company said that the information was made public owing to "a misalignment of databases."
"We are removing the identified impacted customer details from the Directory Assistance service and the online version of the White Pages," Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland issued a statement.
Furthermore, local media reported that a Telstra internal email estimated that around 30,000 present and formal employees have been hit by the hack.
This incident was reported after the company had already suffered a minor data breach in October, because of the data breach specific employee data from 2017 had been made available to the public.
Ackland further added, "no cyber activity was involved. Protecting our customers’ privacy is absolutely paramount and this is an unacceptable breach of their trust. We are in the process of contacting every impacted customer to let them know what has occurred.”
Optus, a company controlled by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd reported on September 22 that because of the system breach more than 10 million accounts have been impacted.
After the incidents occurred some of the sectors including telecom, banking, and other governmental sectors in the nation have been on high alert.
The data that has been leaked in the breach includes names, email addresses, home addresses, passport numbers, and driver's licenses.
“In these circumstances, we are seeking a Court order requiring Telstra to pay compensation to consumers who, we allege, did not get the service they signed up for,” ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.
