Slater and Gordon files class action against Optus

Slater and Gordon has filed a class action lawsuit against Optus following its major data breach in September last year that impacted 9.8 million Australians.

The class action has been filed in the Federal Court of Australia by two lead applicants, a school teacher and a government employee.

These two applicants have filed the class action on behalf of Optus customers whose personal information was compromised in the Optus data breach that happened in late September last year,

According to Slater and Gordon, eligible group members do not need to take any steps at this stage to participate in the class action.

An Optus spokesperson told Digital Nation that the telco will “vigorously defend any such proceedings.”

The class action alleges that Optus breached its contract with Optus customers; the telco breached the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth); Optus breached its duty of care to Optus customers; and Optus breached Australian Consumer Law.

All former and current Optus customers whose information was compromised in the data breach are eligible to participate in the class action.

On September 22, Optus customers were notified that a cyberattack had compromised its systems where 9.8 million Australians were affected and 10,000 customers’ information was exposed on the dark web.

Driver's license numbers, proof of age documents, passport details and Medicare numbers were some of the details disclosed online.

This was the largest customer data breach, until a few weeks ago when Latitude Financial had 7.9 million driver's license numbers stolen in a cyber attack.

In October, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Communication and Media Authority announced they both would be investigating the Optus breach,