Details of 30,000 Telstra staff leaked online in third-party data breach

Telstra has confirmed some employee details have been released online after a 2017 data breach of a third-party rewards program.

The telco said staff names and email addresses were posted on a dark web forum and the leak related to up to 30,000 current and former employees..

In a statement, a Telstra spokesman blamed the recent Optus leak for the "attempt to profit".

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"We've been made aware of a data breach affecting a third party that included limited Telstra employee information from 2017," a Telstra spokesman said.

"To be clear, it was not a breach of any Telstra systems.

"The data released is very basic in nature – limited to full names and email addresses used to sign up to the platform.

"No customer account information was included.

"We believe it's been made available now in an attempt to profit from the Optus breach.

"The relevant authorities have been notified, we've let current employees know, and while the data is of minimal risk to former employees, we will attempt to notify them too."

OPTUS DATA LEAK: What do I do if my details have been hacked?

Optus has confirmed at least 2.1 million personal identification numbers have been stolen as the telco announced an external review into the massive cyberattack.

Following investigations, Optus said of the 9.8 million customers whose data was hacked, it believes 7.7 million do not need to replace documents.

READ MORE: Optus confirms more than 2 million customers had data exposed

The 2.1 million personal ID details include 150,000 passport and 50,000 Medicare numbers.