Data breach at Australia’s TPG Telecom affects 15K customers

Australia's second largest telecommunications firm TPG Telecom had its Hosted Exchange service hacked, resulting in the compromise of email accounts belonging to 15,000 customers, according to SecurityWeek. Attackers behind the intrusion have been targeting financial and cryptocurrency data of TPG Telecom's iiNet and Westnet clients, said TPG Telecom. Data accessed by the attackers was not specified but TPG Telecom emphasized that the incident did not affect any home or personal iiNet or Westnet products. "We apologize unreservedly to the affected iiNet and Westnet Hosted Exchange business customers. We continue to investigate the incident and any potential impact on customers and are advising customers to take necessary precautions," TPG Telecom said, adding that it will notify its customers regarding more details on the attack as the investigation progresses. The TPG Telecom incident comes as Australia is moving to raise penalties for corporate data protection lapses following the recent cyberattacks against Medibank and Optus.