Federal government examining new Medicare numbers for people affected by Optus breach
The federal government is examining whether it could give new Medicare numbers to people affected by the Optus data breach as it comes under pressure to cover the costs of replacement passports.
“Right now, all the resources of government are going to protecting consumers in the face of this extraordinary breach of their personal data.”on Optus over the company’s massive data breach on Tuesday, demanding to know why customers were not informed their Medicare numbers may have been accessed as part of the cyberattack that hit almost 10 million accounts.
“Australians whose passport numbers have been compromised are currently being told by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on their website that ‘if you choose to replace your passport, you’ll have to pay’ and that ‘we weren’t responsible for the data breach’,” foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham and cybersecurity spokesman James Patterson said in a statement.