Optus has agreed to pay to replace millions of passports that were compromised in the recent data breach.
“Optus has responded to my request that I made both in the parliament and Senator Wong made in writing to Optus,” said Anthony Albanese.
“They will cover the costs of replacing affected customers’ passports. I think that’s entirely appropriate.”
The Australian Federal Police has launched ‘Operation Guardian’, “a long and complex” investigation into the Optus data breach.
Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said “the 10,000 individuals who potentially had 100 points over the notification released online will be prioritised,“ in regards to “multi-jurisdictional and multi-layered” protection from hackers and identity theft.
The NSW Minister for Digital Government Victor Dominello said earlier in the week that Optus would “absolutely” pay for customers to replace their NSW drivers licences.
“It’s a $29 replacement fee but that will then be reimbursed by Optus,” he said.
“Optus will communicate with their customers on how they’ll actually go about that.”
This is expected to carry across to all states.
Optus has began reaching out to impacted customers requiring a licence and passport change.
“Optus will be providing a credit covering the cost of the replacement for customers who have been advised that they need to change their licence,” an Optus spokesperson said.
“We are in discussion with other jurisdictions and departments to support Optus customers who have been impacted.”
