Optus Outage Causes Chaos in Australia before Services Restored

Australian communications company Optus was hit by a major service outage on Wednesday. Saeed KHAN / AFP
Australian communications company Optus was hit by a major service outage on Wednesday. Saeed KHAN / AFP
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Optus Outage Causes Chaos in Australia before Services Restored

Australian communications company Optus was hit by a major service outage on Wednesday. Saeed KHAN / AFP
Australian communications company Optus was hit by a major service outage on Wednesday. Saeed KHAN / AFP

An outage at No.2 Australian telco Optus left nearly half the population without internet or phone on Wednesday, throwing payment, transport and health systems into chaos and raising questions about the fragility of the country's core infrastructure.
The outage was first reported about 4 a.m. local time (1700 GMT on Tuesday) and it was not until almost 5.30 p.m. that Optus said services had been restored, Reuters reported.
Some 10 million Australians, 40% of the population, are Optus customers and could not use smartphones, broadband internet or landlines for much of the day.
Hospitals couldn't take phone calls, small businesses were unable to process electronic payments and train networks and ride share services were down simultaneously in some cities.
The incident sparked criticism about the robustness of Australia's telecommunications network and in particular about Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications.
"Customers are clearly frustrated about it and Optus should respond to that accordingly," said Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
No cause of the failure was given but "it has occurred deep within the network (and) it has wide ramifications across mobile, fixed, and broadband services for Optus customers", Rowland added.
Optus reported one of the country's biggest cyber breaches 14 months ago, but CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said she did not believe the latest outage was the result of a hack.
"I mean, it's highly unlikely. Our systems are actually very stable," she said. "This is a very, very rare occurrence."
Under laws introduced in the fallout of the 2022 Optus cyber attack, Australian companies must report to the government within 72 hours if they believe they have experienced a cyber attack.
Industry analyst Paul Budde said the incident showed telecoms companies should be required to accept customers from rival carriers on their networks in emergencies - a reform he said the industry had long resisted.
"These networks aren't just commercial operations," he said in a blogpost. "They are vital infrastructure for our society and economy. Protecting the national interest in the face of serious network failures is paramount."
Parent company SingTel said earlier this year that after the cyber attack Optus made several investments to lift its capabilities and provide additional protection for customers. In a short statement, SingTel confirmed the incident without explanation and noted Optus had apologized.
SingTel shares were down 4.8% on the Singapore stock market.
CUT OFF & FRUSTRATED
Chaos ensued as almost half of Australia was disconnected, one of the biggest network outages the country has witnessed.
"Without my phone I pretty much can't do anything. I'm looking for a bank, and when you can't go onto your phone and Google pretty much you are lost," said Angela Ican, a security officer, in Sydney's central business district.
Melbourne's train networks were forced to shut down for about 30 minutes due to the outage, resulting in delays during the morning rush, media reported.
Hospitals and emergency services across the country were also affected. No. 1 private hospital owner Ramsay Health Care said phone services to its 70 hospitals and clinics were impacted. Emergency triple zero ("000") calls were not working from Optus landlines.
Banking services, including some ATMs using Optus, were also impacted. Commonwealth Bank, the country's biggest lender, said some customers may encounter difficulties with its services.
"Maybe this incident will cause us to have a closer look at how we want to run this critical national infrastructure across multiple private companies," said Bill Corcoran, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University.



US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
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US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)

The Justice Department late Friday filed its response to TikTok's civil suit aimed at derailing a law that would force the app to be sold or face a US ban.

TikTok's suit in a Washington federal court argues that the law violates First Amendment rights of free speech.

The US response counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is not able to claim First Amendment rights here.

The filing details concerns that ByteDance could, and would, comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users or yield to pressure to censor or promote content on the platform, senior justice department officials said in a briefing.

"The goal of this law is to ensure that young people, old people and everyone in between is able to use the platform in a safe manner," a senior justice department official said.

"And to use it in a way confident that their data is not ultimately going back to the Chinese government and what they're watching is not being directed by or censored by the Chinese government."

The response argues that the law's focus on foreign ownership of TikTok takes it out of the realm of the First Amendment.

US intelligence agencies are concerned that China can "weaponize" mobile apps, justice department officials said.

"It's clear that the Chinese government has for years been pursuing large, structured datasets of Americans through all sorts of manner, including malicious cyber activity; including efforts to buy that data from data brokers and others, and including efforts to build sophisticated AI models that can utilize that data," a senior justice department official said.

TikTok has said the demanded divestiture is "simply not possible" -- and not on the timeline required.

The bill signed by President Joe Biden early this year set a mid-January 2025 deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a US ban.

The White House can extend the deadline by 90 days.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide," said the suit by TikTok and ByteDance.

- TikTok shutdown? -

ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok, leaving the lawsuit, which will likely go to the US Supreme Court, as its only option to avoid a ban.

"There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025," the lawsuit said, "silencing (those) who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

TikTok first found itself in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump's administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.

That effort got bogged down in the courts when a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's attempt, saying the reasons for banning the app were likely overstated and that free speech rights were in jeopardy.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the same legal headaches, and some experts believe the US Supreme Court could be open to allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protection.

"We view the statute as a game changer from the arguments that were in play back in 2020," a senior justice department official said.

There are serious doubts that any buyer could emerge to purchase TikTok even if ByteDance would agree to the request.

Big tech's usual suspects, such as Facebook parent Meta or YouTube's Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns, and others could not afford one of the world's most successful apps used by about 170 million people in the United States alone.