The second largest Australian telecommunications company TPG fell victim to a high-profile cyber attack. TPG is Australia’s No. 2 Internet service provider which serves 7.2 million accounts in the nation.
TPG Telecom was previously known as Vodafone Hutchison Australia, however, it was renamed after its merger with TPG.
The company released its documents on Wednesday in which it shared that the e-mails of up to 15,000 of its corporate customers had been breached. The company identified this attack during a forensic review.
“TPG Telecom’s external cyber security advisers, Mandiant, advised that they found evidence of unauthorized access to a Hosted Exchange service which hosts email accounts for up to 15,000 iiNet and Westnet business customers,” the wireless carrier reported.
The company also revealed that the group of threat actors was looking for cryptocurrency and other financial information. However, the company further did not describe whether customers’ data has been accessed during the attack or not.
“We apologize unreservedly to the affected iiNet and Westnet Hosted Exchange business customers. We continue to investigate the incident and any potential impact on customers and are advising customers to take necessary precautions,” TPG Company's report read.
As per the data, before this attack around 8 other Australian companies witnessed hacks since the month of October. These incidents are prompting public outrage in Australia.
Following the reports, the government said last week that the government is working hard to develop a new cyber-security strategy to fight against cyber threats. Furthermore, the government is also considering banning the payment of ransom to threat actors.
After the public announcement, the company further added that we had implemented measures against the vulnerabilities in the system to stop unauthorized access. Also, the company has started contacting all its customers on the exchange service affected by the incident.
“The matter remains under investigation and we will be communicating with directly affected customers as more information becomes available,” the company added.