Australia's Telstra hit by data breach, two weeks after attack on Optus

FILE PHOTO: A man walks as he talks on his phone as another man runs behind him on a Winter day in central Sydney, Australia, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's largest telecoms firm Telstra Corp Ltd said on Tuesday it had suffered what it called a small data breach, a disclosure that comes two weeks after its main rival Optus was left reeling by a massive cyberattack.

Telstra, which has 18.8 million customer accounts equivalent to three-quarters of Australia's population, said an intrusion of a third-party organisation exposed some employee data dating back to 2017.