Thursday, February 9, 2023
HomeInformation SecurityBungling Optus scammer was no prison mastermind • Graham Cluley

Bungling Optus scammer was no prison mastermind • Graham Cluley


Bumbling Optus scammer was no criminal mastermind

Dennis Su isn’t the one that hacked Australian telecoms big Optus final September, in one of many largest information breaches within the nation’s historical past.

However he did try to take advantage of the hack which uncovered the non-public particulars of as many as 10 million buyer Optus accounts to his personal profit.

Su, who was 19 years outdated on the time of his bungled crime spree, despatched SMS textual content messages to 92 Optus clients telling them that their private particulars can be offered to fraudsters inside days except AU $2,000 (roughly US $1,400) was transferred right into a checking account.

Sms message

First mistake: Su didn’t demand his ransom cost in cryptocurrency, which might have been tougher for the authorities to trace. As an alternative, he gave his meant victims the checking account particulars… of his 15-year-old brother.

Second mistake: When Su despatched the SMS textual content messages, he despatched them from his personal cell phone quantity.

In case you’re questioning, Australlian police didn’t have an excessive amount of bother understanding who was accountable…

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Su, who reportedly noticed “a possibility to make fast cash” as he was “having a troublesome time being unemployed,” was hardly demonstrating his intelligence to any future employer with these form of elementary bungles.

“He was going to be caught fairly simply, I might have thought. It wasn’t a complicated methodology of hiding behind encrypted accounts,” stated Justice of the Peace Emma Manea at Sydney’s Downing Centre Native Court docket.

In accordance with native information stories, Su has apologised for his crimes.

Clearly recognising that Su assisted the police with their investigation and that jail won’t be the perfect place for him, Ms Manea sentenced Su to an 18-month group corrections order and 100 hours of group service.

Maybe the most important punishment of all might be Dennis Su’s identify being endlessly related to a very inept and cack-handed try and frighten folks out of cash.

Discovered this text fascinating? Comply with Graham Cluley on Twitter or Mastodon to learn extra of the unique content material we publish.


Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus business having labored for numerous safety corporations because the early Nineteen Nineties when he wrote the primary ever model of Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit for Home windows. Now an unbiased safety analyst, he often makes media appearances and is an worldwide public speaker on the subject of laptop safety, hackers, and on-line privateness.
Comply with him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an e-mail.



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