Aussie Broadband investigated over IT system fault

An “IT system fault” at Aussie Broadband caused it to mistakenly send thousands of excess data usage warnings on a single day last year.

The incident, on April 16 2022, impacted 3248 customers and saw the provider send 5287 “inaccurate usage notifications”, according to an investigation report [pdf] published by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The investigation report is dated October 2022 but was only published by ACMA yesterday.

ACMA commenced an investigation after a referral from a customer.

The authority found Aussie Broadband contravened a clause of the telecommunications consumer protections (TCP) code.

“Aussie Broadband advised that the 3248 recipients of the usage notifications were customers that had entered into an arrangement or agreement with Aussie Broadband for the supply of a telecommunications product in the form of a broadband plan with an included data allowance,” ACMA said in its investigation report.

“Advice from Aussie Broadband [was] that it experienced an IT system fault that led to the system erroneously recording that a customer had exceeded their data usage when the customer had not.”

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AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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