Optus

History

2023: IT collapse; half of the country was left without Internet and telephone communication

On November 8, 2023, approximately 10 million people and about 400 thousand companies and enterprises in Australia were left without mobile communications and Internet access. The reason was the large-scale failure of the telecommunications company Optus, the country's second largest provider.

A cyber incident has sparked chaos across Australia. Optus service outages have brought rail lines to a standstill in Melbourne, disrupted hospitals and emergency services, blocked payment systems and delayed transport. Electronic medical services and taxi ordering services were not available. Residents of the country could not use not only cell phones, but also landline communications. The information systems of a number of banks, educational institutions, etc. suffered. In addition, the work of other operators using the Optus infrastructure was disrupted: they included Amaysim, Vaya, Aussie Broadband, Moose Mobile, Coles Mobile, Spintel, Southern Phone, Gomo and Dodo Mobile.

Due to the failure, Optus has approximately 10 million people and about 400 thousand companies and enterprises were left without mobile communications and Internet access

Optus said that the cause of the IT collapse was a kind of "network event" that provoked a "cascade failure." Any other details about the causes of the incident as of November 10, 2023 were not disclosed. However, the telecommunications company does not believe that the cause of the incident was a cyber attack.

As compensation, Optus will provide all its subscribers with free data packets. Meanwhile, the Federal Government has announced the launch of an investigation into the failure of the Optus network. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said her department would conduct an audit, adding that it was crucial that the telecommunications industry learn from the incident. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will investigate whether emergency calls were made more difficult through Optus's mobile network.^[1]

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