In the Optus data breach, millions of identity files have been exposed, and many Australians now need to replace their bank cards and passports to ensure that information is not fraudulent and stolen by criminals.
Prime Minister confirmed on Friday that it was Optus and not taxpayers who would at least pay for the new passport fee. So, how much does Optus end up cleaning up this mess?
Considering the lack of reliable details about which data is stolen, estimating these numbers requires a lot of assumptions and guesses. It is believed that the personal data of up to 9.8 million Australians were leaked in the incident, but only about 3 million people's identity documents (such as passports or driver's licenses) and the Medicare numbers of 37,000 were leaked.
It is not possible to determine how much information replacement fee Optus needs to pay, especially considering that some people may have only their passports or driver's licenses exposed, rather than both being leaked, and some data may have expired. But let's assume an extreme result, the telecom company will have to pay for a replacement of 3 million passports, 3 million driver's licenses and 15,000 Medicare cards (of which 22,000 exposed numbers have expired).
driver's license fee is easy to calculate because the average cost of changing a driver's license is about $27, assuming that changing the driver's license number does not require additional cost, assuming Optus cannot get a bulk discount, the final cost is $81 million.
passport is a bit tricky. They usually cost $193 to replace, but in some cases it is free, so it is not clear what the actual cost of a replacement in this case. So, the maximum fee is $580 million, but after Optus and related departments resolved this issue, it is likely that this number will be much lower after subtracting the passport replacement cost or expired customers.
and then Medicare card. Consumers usually don’t have to pay for replacing this card. Assuming Optus is willing to pay this fee, we have to guess a number out of thin air. Assuming that each card replacement fee is 20 AUD, the total fee is 300,000 AUD.
Taken together, in this extreme assumption, Optus will spend $661.3 million to replace everyone's identity information.
Optus has provided 12 months of credit monitoring service to affected customers Equifax free subscription service. The monthly fee is $1495, so if 2.8 million customers accept the service, it could add $502 million in bills.
But this is just one of the fees, and people affected by the data breach may also encounter inconvenience in other aspects.
For example, Medicare cards usually take a month to arrive after being sent, meaning that people will need to rely on the digital version on their smartphones during this period.
Passport production has been delayed due to the peak of travel after the epidemic, which in some cases takes more than three months. Once Optus places another 3 million "orders", the situation is even less likely to improve.
There is also the fact that the entire application and delivery process is likely to be a nightmare. Criminals are already sending fraudulent emails asking people to enter their own details and claim compensation for replacement documents and Optus vulnerabilities, which complicates any legal attempt to verify people’s identities.
Meanwhile, details of some affected people are likely to float on the dark web, and identity thieves are waiting for the opportunity to start.
In addition, as of March this year, Optus' parent company Singtel achieved a profit of 2.1 billion Australian dollars.
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