Major Australian ISP Investigating Database Breach

The country’s third-largest Internet service provider, iiNet, has been advised that a database held by subsidiary Westnet was hacked and is being offered for sale.

iiNet has begun informing customers to change their passwords, according to an email posted  June 8 on broadband enthusiast website Whirlpool.

The email states there was "an incident" that could have resulted in unauthorized access to customer information stored on the company's servers.

"Although this unauthorized access has now been blocked and reported to relevant law-enforcement agencies, an investigation has confirmed there was a period in which details associated with your Westnet account were accessible by a third party," iiNet stated in the email.

The company said usernames, addresses, telephone numbers, and plain-text passwords could have been compromised.

There are reports that a hacker going by the alias “Mufasa” is peddling the leaked database.