Optus Hack: ASIC Warns Market Intermediaries against Possible 'Fraud'

　　The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) sent a warning email to the Aussie financial market intermediaries, including brokers, against the risks of possible “identity theft and fraud” amid the Optus data breach.

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　　A copy of the email seen by Finance Magnates asked the market intermediaries to be “extra vigilant in verifying and managing customers personal information.”

　　Finance Magnates also reached out to multiple brokers to know about their preparedness with the ASIC warning, however, at least one broker confirmed that it did not receive ASICs email.

A Massive Data Breach

　　Optus is the second largest telecom service provider in Australia. The company created a stir in the country earlier this week after revealing that the personal data of up to 10 million customers were compromised, which include home addresses, drivers' licenses and passport numbers.

　　The hacker initially asked for $1 million as ransom from the company and threatened to publish 10,000 Optus customers every day until the money is received. However, an anonymous online account claiming to be the hacker dropped the ransom demand recently and has assured the deleting of the compromised data.

　　“At this stage, it appears that the data breach is limited to retail customers (and potentially small businesses) while enterprise accounts do not appear to be impacted,” ASICs email stated.