VicRoads has sent emails to some victims of the Optus breach informing them that they would soon receive a free redesigned driver’s licence card displaying the new number.
More than 942,000 Victorian licence holders had their details compromised,according to the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs.
VicRoads had already flagged the records of more than 462,000 people who have registered their details online as possible victims,with about 342,000 of those confirmed as being affected directly by the Optus hack.
The remaining licence holders would soon be contacted,the department said.
It said it would continue to seek reimbursement from Optus for the cost of replacement of so many licences.
Cybersecurity experts have found almost all thestolen identity document numbers in the Optus hack are from driver’s licences,as opposed to other documents,based on a sample of 10,000 customers’ details the hacker released online in September.
The breach,impacting up to 9.8 million Optus customers,has potentially led to the theft of 3.6 million licence numbers,according to an unverified post published on a hacking forum last month.
Advice to Optus customers from the Department of Home Affairs
- People can call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 Cyber1 24 hours a day,seven days a week.
- The ACSC’srecover and get help page has general advice on recovering from viruses,scams and cyber attacks.
- IDCare is Australia and New Zealand’s national identity support service. IDCare offers personalised support to individuals who are concerned about their personal information. IDCare has aresponse sheet available online.
- A privacy complaint can be made in writing to theOffice of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) via email,mail or fax.
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