Optus to pay for new passports for hack victims

Optus will pay for replacement passports for customers who had their personal information exposed by the data breach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced.

Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong called on the telco to pay for replacement passports for impacted customers.

"Optus has responded to my request that I made in parliament and that Senator Wong made in writing to Optus, and they will cover the costs to replace affected customers' passports,” the Prime Minister confirmed today.

“I think it’s entirely appropriate.”

• Also read: 4 Optus scams to watch out for

• Also read: Optus hack: How to get a free driver’s licence replacement

• Also read: Details of 10,000 Optus customers leaked as hackers demand $1.5m ransom

How to get a free replacement passport

No further details on how to get a free replacement passport have been announced just yet.

You can ordinarily get a new passport through the Australian Passport Office.

A passport usually costs $193 to replace, while a new passport costs up to $308.

New taskforce established

It comes as the Australian Federal Police launches a new task force, Operation Guardian, to protect the victims of the Optus data breach.

The operation will focus on protecting the 10,000 people affected by the leaked data.

“Customers affected by the breach will receive multijurisdictional and multilayered protection from identity crime and financial fraud,” Justine Gough, Assistant Commissioner for cyber command at the AFP said.

She said the 10,000 customers who potentially had 100 points of identification released on the dark web will be prioritised.

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