Optus is using cybersecurity risks to delay discovery in a lawsuit over cybersecurity risks
Optus' cybersecurity worries are bleeding into the company's legal fight against class action claims over its handling of a 2022 cyberattack.
Lawyers defending Optus in a class action lawsuit over its 2022 data breach are refusing to hand over documents to a rival firm as part of the document discovery process, citing cybersecurity concerns.
In a hearing in the case in the Federal Court on Tuesday, and just days after a nationwide network outage put the focus back on the carrier, lawyers for Optus pushed back against requests to hand over documents to the firm leading the class-action claim, Slater and Gordon.
"One sticking point today is the insistence of Slater & Gordon that documents go to the applicants themselves and [legal] funders," Kate Richardson SC - the barrister appearing on behalf of Optus told the court on Tuesday.
"Slater and Gordon is a significant law firm but other law firms have been hacked - including Allen & Overy," Richardson said during the hearing.
