The Australian Government has taken rapid action to protect victims from identify fraud following the Optus cyberattack in September.
Optus has advised the Australian Passport Office (APO) that over 100,000 Australian passport numbers were compromised as a result of this cyberattack. Optus is contacting impacted customers directly.
If Optus has advised you that your passport number was compromised through this incident, you don’t need to replace your Australian passport.
Your passport is still safe to use for international travel. The passport numbers cannot be used to obtain a new passport. Robust controls are used to protect passports from identity takeover, including sophisticated facial recognition technology.
The Government has taken action to ensure Australian passports compromised as part of the Optus breach won’t verify through the Document Verification System (DVS). This will safeguard customers' personal identity information online.
Government departments, and financial organisations like banks, use the DVS to check identity documents online. They ensure they are valid before they grant access to health and welfare payments or financial services, such as home loans.
This measure complements the Government’s amendments to the Telecommunications Regulations, which enable telecommunications companies to temporarily share approved government identifier information with regulated financial service entities.
Once a customer's Australian passport has been blocked through the DVS, they can still take their passport physically with them to an institution or establishment as proof of identity.
More information:
- Contact Optus customer service directly on 133 937, or go to their Passport Information webpage
- Go to our Frequently Asked Questions on the Optus data breach and passport information
- See the Australian Cyber Security Centre's Optus data breach alert.