Telstra reveals security breach on Pacnet network
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Telstra reveals security breach on Pacnet network

Telstra has revealed that Pacnet experienced a security breach which allowed third party access to its corporate IT network.

Telstra has advised Pacnet customers, staff and regulators of the security breach, which occurred prior to Telstra completing its acquisition of the company.

Telstra said it has taken immediate action to protect the security of the network once it was informed of the breach. It stated that there had been no contact from the perpetrators nor did it know the reason for the breach.

The company also stressed that Pacnet’s corporate IT network is not connected to Telstra and there has been no evidence of any activity on Telstra’s networks.

“Our investigation found a third party had attained access to Pacnet’s corporate IT network, including email and other administrative systems, through a SQL vulnerability that enabled malicious software to be uploaded to the network,” said Telstra’s group executive of global enterprise services Brendon Riley.

Riley went on to claim that Telstra makes significant investments in its security capabilities, adding that “we will apply Telstra’s very high security standards to the Pacnet IT network”.

Telstra completed its acquisition of Pacnet on April 16 2015, and has since retired the brand and integrated its SDN platform and its China operations. It also reshuffled its management board.

The security breach will raise further industry concerns about the threat of cyberattacks. In Capacity’s CIL Report 2015, 71% of respondents said that carriers should be collaborating more to prevent cyberattacks.

 

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