Optus fails to keep report into cyber attack out of class action Lawyers Weekly
pPowered by MOMENTUMMEDIAppPowered by MOMENTUM MEDIAppGet breaking news Sign up to our Newsletter ppThe Federal Court has dismissed Optus appeal to hold back a Deloitte report into its 2022 cyber attack from class action lawyerspp ShareppShare this article onpp
The Australian Federal Court has ruled that Optus will not be able to keep a report it commissioned from professional services firm Deloitte regarding its 2022 cyber attack out of the hands of lawyers representing a class action against the telcopp
Optus had claimed that the report and its contents were protected under legal professional privilege and that it was primarily commissioned to provide legal advice However Federal Court judge Justice Jonathan Beach ruled against this claim in November saying there were problematic aspects to the companys claimpp
Justice Beach determined that since the report had been mentioned in an Optus press release and then Optus CEO had said the report would help inform the response to the incident its dominant purpose was not a legally privileged purposepp
This is hardly the stuff of a report being prepared or used predominantly for legal advice or a litigation purpose said at the timepp
The report must now be shared with law firm Slater Gordon which is pursuing the class action on behalf of Optus customers impacted by the data breach It is expected that while the report is not being released to the public portions of it will likely become public as the class action proceedspp
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Despite refusing to accept the umpires decision Optus must now hand over the Deloitte report into how millions of its customers private information was accessed as a consequence of the 2022 data breach Hardwick told the AFRpp
Optuss efforts to shield this report is indicative of a company that refuses to accept responsibility for its role in what happened and the significant impact this data breach has had on millions of its Australian customerspp
A spokesperson for Optus told Cyber Daily that it will respect the Courts decision and that the company is considering our positionpp
Our priority is ensuring our customers have ongoing confidence in the integrity of our cyber defence systems the spokesperson saidpp
In this regard Optus will consider our next steps which may include seeking confidentiality orders relating to elements of the report that we believe are key to the ongoing protection of our customer data and our systems from cyber criminalspppp
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The Australian Federal Court has ruled that Optus will not be able to keep a report it commissioned from professional services firm Deloitte regarding its 2022 cyber attack out of the hands of lawyers representing a class action against the telcopp
Optus had claimed that the report and its contents were protected under legal professional privilege and that it was primarily commissioned to provide legal advice However Federal Court judge Justice Jonathan Beach ruled against this claim in November saying there were problematic aspects to the companys claimpp
Justice Beach determined that since the report had been mentioned in an Optus press release and then Optus CEO had said the report would help inform the response to the incident its dominant purpose was not a legally privileged purposepp
This is hardly the stuff of a report being prepared or used predominantly for legal advice or a litigation purpose said at the timepp
The report must now be shared with law firm Slater Gordon which is pursuing the class action on behalf of Optus customers impacted by the data breach It is expected that while the report is not being released to the public portions of it will likely become public as the class action proceedspp
pp
Despite refusing to accept the umpires decision Optus must now hand over the Deloitte report into how millions of its customers private information was accessed as a consequence of the 2022 data breach Hardwick told the AFRpp
Optuss efforts to shield this report is indicative of a company that refuses to accept responsibility for its role in what happened and the significant impact this data breach has had on millions of its Australian customerspp
A spokesperson for Optus told Cyber Daily that it will respect the Courts decision and that the company is considering our positionpp
Our priority is ensuring our customers have ongoing confidence in the integrity of our cyber defence systems the spokesperson saidpp
In this regard Optus will consider our next steps which may include seeking confidentiality orders relating to elements of the report that we believe are key to the ongoing protection of our customer data and our systems from cyber criminalspppp
Share
ppShare this article onppGet breaking newsppCopyright 2024 momentummediap
