Telstra’s blunder leads to massive data leak

It is yet unknown if it was a human or computer error that made Australian telecommunications and company Telstra send out letters containing personal information (name, phone numbers, telephone plans) of its customers to incorrect recipients.

The letters were supposed to explain new pricing charges to the customers, but now the privacy of potentially 220,00 customers – among whom are 23,500 silent line customers – was breached, and Telstra has begun contacting affected customers by phone and email and apologizing.

Telstra is also asking all those customers who have received multiple letters to destroy them or send them back to the company.

According to The Australian, the Privacy Commissioner and the Australian Communications and Media Authority launched investigations into the breach, and that giving that the incident was a mistake and not a deliberate disclosure of confidential information, Telstra will probably not be criminally charged.