Optus explains outage almost one week after Australian blackout

Girls browse on their mobile phones in front of Australian communications company Optus outlet in the central business districk of Sydney on November 8, 2023. The company faces a government review into the breakdown, little more than a year after it was hit by a major cyberattack. — AFP

The Australia-wide outage that struck Optus last week occurred when incorrect routing information cascaded through the network following a software upgrade, according to the telecommunications company, which said it has made changes so the issue can’t happen again.

Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, suffered the crash early Wednesday, leaving millions of customers without mobile and internet services, as well as disrupting public transport, health providers and bank transactions. The company faces a government review into the breakdown, little more than a year after it was hit by a major cyberattack.