Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was almost in tears as she addressed the telco’s response to a huge data breach. 

Reports suggest 9.8 million customer records were compromised in the telco’s “absolute worst case scenario”, which could have leaked an array of personal information.

The hack was identified late Wednesday night when Optus noticed suspicious activity.

Press PLAY below to hear why Optus is keeping vague on how customers will be contacted 

“It was only late that night that we were able to determine that it was of a significant scope,” Ms Bayer Rosmarin said in a media briefing.

“By 2pm the next day, we had notified everybody and tried to get all our ducks in a row.

“From what I understand, it’s probably one of the fastest responses in these sorts of situations.”

Ms Bayer Rosmarin expressed her disappointment in Optus’ failure to protect against the cyber attack, which she said was “not similar to anything we’ve seen before.”

Image: Getty