Tuesday 27 September 2022 02:23 AM Optus data breach: Bizarre twist as hacker apologises to telco and claims they ... trends now
The mysterious hacker purporting to be behind the Optus data breach has suddenly apologised for the cyber-attack - after releasing the details of some 10,000 customers.
In a bizarre post on Tuesday morning, 'optushacker' claimed there were 'too many eyes' on them and said they would not sell or leak the hacked data of up to 10 million Australians.
In broken English, optushacker said: 'Deepest apology to Optus for this. Hope all goes well from this'
The hacker also claimed they would've told the telco about their vulnerability but there was no way of getting in touch.
'Optus if your (sic) reading we would have reported exploit if you had method to contact.
'No security mail, no bug bountys, no way too message,' the message read. 'Ransom not paid but we don't care any more.'
The extraordinary backflip comes hours after the cybercriminal threatened to release another 10,000 records every day for the next four days if a $1.5million ransom is not paid.
The customer records the hacker has released so far included passport, drivers licence and Medicare numbers, as well as dates of birth and home addresses.
About 11 million Optus customers had personal details stolen in data breach, and a hacker has threatened to release 10,000 of those everyday unless the company gives into a ransom of AUD $1.5m
The ransom demand appeared on the dark web, with the hacker warning Optus had four days to decide
Cybersecurity journalist Jeremy Kirk, who says he has been in contact with the hacker, shared details of the ransom note on Tuesday morning.
'The Optus hacker has released 10,000 customer records and says a 10K batch will be released every day over the next four days if Optus doesn't give into the extortion demand,' he wrote on Twitter.
The hacker has demanded the ransom of US$1million - or $1.5million Australian - be paid in Monero, a decentralised cryptocurrency.
'We are businessmen 1.000.000$US is a lot of money and will keep too (sic) our word,' the hacker's message read.
The ransom demand comes after Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil launched a scathing attack on Optus in parliament, saying it was a 'basic' hack.
She laid blame for the security breach, which involved 9.8 million current and former customers, at the feet of the telco.
'The breach is of a nature that we should not expect to see in a large telecommunications provider in this country,' Ms O'Neil said on Monday.
'We expect Optus to continue to do everything they can to support their customers and former customers.'
However, Optus has rejected Ms O'Neil's claim that the hack was not 'sophisticated'.
The telco's CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the breach was 'not as is being portrayed'.
'Unfortunately I think our briefing of the Minister happened after she (made those claims),' she told the ABC.
'Our data was encrypted and we have multiple layers of protection.'
Ms Bayer Rosmarin said the company could not do much about the ransom threat while it was being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.
'We have seen that there is a post like that on the dark web and the Australian Federal Police is all over that,' she said.
Speaking to the Today Show on Tuesday morning, Mr Kirk said no one knows the true identity of the hacker.
'This is the real challenge for investigators right now, they want to find this person, right, obviously, because this person is perpetrating extortion against an international company, and is in possession of a huge amount of personal data,' he said.
'There's just a lot of ways to stay anonymous on the Internet and so what police and other investigators will be doing right now is trying to find out if that person has made any mistakes. Anything that leads to their in real life identity so hopefully they can make an arrest.'
Cybersecurity threat analyst Brett Callow, said the hacker's only motivation was money and echoed Ms O'Neil's claims that it was not a sophisticated attack.
'It would sound like something potentially a highschool kid could've pulled off,' he said.
Operation Hurricane was established by the AFP on Monday to identify the people behind the breach as well as prevent identity fraud.
Assistant Commissioner of Cyber Command Justine Gough said the investigation into the source of the data breach would be complex.
Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin says the company couldn't do much about the ransom threat as it was being investigated by the Australian Federal Police
'We are aware of reports of stolen
