Giant Optus Hack May Swallow a Quarter of Singtel Profits
- Fallout from security breach at phone company Optus grows
- Estimated bill could top $420 million, based on typical costs
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The cost for Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to make good customers exposed to one of Australia’s worst data breaches risks wiping out more than one-quarter of its annual profit.
Optus, SingTel’s Australian mobile-phone business, last week revealed hackers accessed the personal information of as many as 9.8 million customers -- over one-third of the population. Some 2.8 million of them lost details of passports, drivers licenses or government-issued medical identity cards, triggering concerns about large-scale identity fraud, according to the government.