Australian Telco Telstra and National Australia Bank Reveal Data Breach via Third-Party Platform

Optus says 150,000 passport and 50,000 Medicare numbers were stolen, LA school district says massive database was accessed by Vice Society, Feds warn of threats ahead of mid-term elections, more

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Australia’s largest telco Telstra said it was hit by a data breach via a third party that also affected one of Australia’s top financial institutions, the National Australia Bank (NAB).

These latest Australian data breach announcements come about two weeks after a significant cyber attack struck Telstra’s main rival Optus. Both Telstra and NAB were stung by a data breach of a third-party rewards platform, Pegasus, with names and email addresses of their current and former staff posted online. However, both companies stressed that their internal systems were not breached and that no customer accounts were exposed in the incident.

Sources familiar with the Telstra breach said the names and email addresses of up to 72,000 current and former employees across 15 com…