"Australian Police Make First Arrest in Optus Hack Probe"

A police investigation of a cyberattack on an Australian telecommunications company in which the personal data of more than one-third of Australia’s population was stolen has resulted in its first arrest recently.  The police launched Operation Hurricane in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau Investigation after Optus, Australia’s second-largest wireless carrier lost the personal records of 9.8 million current and former customers on Sept. 21.  The police noted that the hacker dumped the records of 10,000 of those customers on the dark web last week as part of an attempt to extort $1 million from Optus, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., also known as Singtel.  The arrested individual is a 19-year-old Sydney man and was charged with using the dumped data in a text message blackmail scam.  The man, who has not been identified publicly, has yet to appear in court on two charges that carry prison sentences of up to 10 and seven years.  The police stated that he sent text messages to 93 Optus customers demanding 2,000 Australian dollars ($1,300) and warned that their data would be used in a financial crime if the payment was not received.  None of the targets paid.  Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said the investigation is continuing.  Gough noted that just because there has been one arrest does not mean there won’t be any more arrests.  Recently the Australian government announced changes to its telecommunications law to protect vulnerable Optus customers.  A government statement said that changes to the Telecommunications Regulations allow Optus and other providers to better coordinate with financial institutions and governments to detect and mitigate the risk of cybersecurity incidents, fraud, scams, and other malicious cyber activities.

SecurityWeek reports: "Australian Police Make First Arrest in Optus Hack Probe"