Australia's Telstra says data breach exposed 30,000 affected

A man walks in central Sydney, Australia, July 4, 2017 as he talks on his phone as another man runs behind him on a Winter day. DAVID GRAY REUTERS SYDNEY Australia's largest telecoms firm Telstra Corp Ltd said on Tuesday it had suffered a small data breach, a disclosure that comes two weeks after its main rival Optus was left reeling from a massive cyberattack.

Telstra, which has 18.8 million customer accounts, is equivalent to three-quarters of Australia's population, said an intrusion of a third-party organization exposed employee data dating back to 2017.

According to local media, the number of affected employees was 30,000, according to a Telstra internal staff email.

The data taken was very basic in nature, limited to names and email addresses, a company spokeswoman said in a statement.

The spokesperson said they believed it's been made available now in an attempt to profit from the Optus breach.

Telstra did not comment on the number of people affected or when the breach occurred, but said it affected current and former staff only.

Australia's financial, telecommunications, and government sectors have been on high alert since Optus disclosed on Sept 22 that a breach of its systems could have compromised up to 10 million people's accounts. The data exposed included home addresses, drivers' licenses, and passport numbers.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, owner of Optus, has said it is assessing the potential cost of the attack, while law firms contemplate class action suits.

The Australian government believes the breach was due to a basic security gap, but it has continued to slam Optus for describing the attack as sophisticated and for delays in updating affected customers.

Optus senior management are kidding themselves if they want a medal for the way they've been communicating, Minister of Government Services Bill Shorten told reporters on Tuesday.

It's not like a crocodile is going to swallow that. An Optus spokeswoman declined to comment on Shorten's remarks, but said the company was working quickly to provide accurate updates to customers.