Optus sued over 2022 data breach that exposed data of 9.5m people
The Australian Information Commissioner announced on Friday it was launching the legal action.
The case stems from a data breach in September 2022.
The Information Commissioner will argue Optus failed to adequately manage cybersecurity and information security risk.
'Organisations hold personal information within legal requirements and based upon trust,' commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said.
'The Australian community should have confidence that organisations will act accordingly, and if they don't, the OAIC as regulator will act to secure those rights.'
An Optus spokesperson said the company would 'consider the matters raised in the proceedings and will respond to the claims made by the AIC in due course'.
'Optus apologises again to our customers and the broader community that the 2022 cyber attack occurred,' the spokesperson said.
'We strive every day to protect our customers' information and have been working hard to minimise any impact the cyber attack may have had.'
Optus would keep investing in security, the spokesperson said, and the cyber threat environment was evolving.
'As the matter is now before the Australian courts, Optus will not be commenting further at this time,' they said.
Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said strong data governance and security needed to be embedded in organisations.
'To guard against vulnerabilities that threat actors will be ready to exploit,' Ms Kind said.
The lawsuit alleges that from on, or around October 17, 2019 to September 20, 2022, Optus seriously interfered with the privacy of about 9.5 million Australians by failing to take reasonable steps to protect their personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
The case is being pursued as an alleged breach of the Privacy Act 1988.
The Information Commission alleges Optus failed to adequately manage cybersecurity and information security risk in a manner commensurate with the nature and volume of personal information that Optus held, the company's size and its risk profile.
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