The Home Affairs Minister is standing by her strong stance on the major data breach at Optus.

Clare O’Neil was highly critical of the telco provider in both parliament and an interview on ABC’s 7.30 Report.

Minister O’Neil said, “What happened at Optus was not a sophisticated attack.

“We should not have a telecommunications provider in this country that has effectively left the window open for data of this nature to be stolen.”

However,  Optus now seems to be refuting this with Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin telling the ABC: “Unfortunately I think our briefing of the Minister happened after she gave that interview.”

“What I can say is that it’s not as is being portrayed,” she said.

“Our data was encrypted and we have multiple layers of protection.”

2GB has contacted the Minister’s office who confirmed the Minister’s stance on the cyber attack has not changed.

“This is amateur hour,” Chris Smith said,  “Zero out of 10 and a PR disaster in every direction.”

Press PLAY below to hear Chris’ comments in full

Image: Getty/Martin Ollman