Asia | Once more unto the breach

A spate of cyber-attacks is making life miserable for Australians

Excessive data retention and sloppy security make the country a juicy target

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 05: A person uses their phone while an Optus public service message is displayed inside an Optus store on October 05, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. The identification details of 9.8 million customers of the Telecommunications operator Optus was stolen in a data breach last week, one of the largest data breaches to occur in Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Nov 3rd 2022|SYDNEY

“I literally have no privacy any more,” groans Anita, a researcher in Western Australia (who, in a bid to regain some, asked The Economist to withhold her surname). Her personal data has been stolen twice. On September 23rd her phone company, Optus, told her that she had been a “victim of a cyber-attack”, exposing her name, contact details, and passport and driving licence numbers. A few weeks later she learnt that her private health insurer, ahm, had been hit in a separate attack. Her phone buzzes more often with spam calls and emails these days. She was recently the target of a phishing attempt.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Once more unto the breach”