IDCARE as Australia’s national identity and cyber support community service has been engaged by Sumo to assist individuals who have concerns about the exposure of their personal information.
Sumo is currently conducting a thorough investigation into the recent data incident. Updates to any advice on this page will be added as soon as we are informed of the outcome of the investigation.
You can also keep abreast of developments in relation to this cyber incident by visiting Sumo's website.
IDCARE is an independent charity focused on supporting community members that have concerns about their personal, account or credential information.
We have been asked by Sumo to extend our support to impacted persons via the provision of expert advice and IDCARE specialist Case Management services are available.
Note that IDCARE's National Case Management specialises in cases where individuals believe they have experienced identity exploitation and misuse or have grave concerns about this risk.
IDCARE Case Managers work every day with community members who experience the compromise or exploitation of their personal information. They understand the real risks, concerns and needs of our community.
General recommendations are provided below. If you have specific concerns or seek further guidance on the recommendations, please submit an Individual Get Help Form and use the reference code provided in your notification.
The exposure of personal information such as name, date of birth, and contact details can heighten risks around scammer engagement. In fact, notifications about a breach itself can also heighten risks, as scammers can seek to impersonate the breached organisation when engaging with notified persons.
Remain scam vigilant by:
Assuming that communications you receive may be from a scammer.
Make your own enquiries using an alternative contact method to the one they used.
Never give remote access to your devices if asked by someone who engages you.
Keep your passwords and codes to yourself. Sharing these with scammers may mean you breach the terms and conditions of the account providers (such as your bank) and any chance of recovering funds highly unlikely.
Staying abreast of the latest scams by visiting Scamwatch or by subscribing to IDCARE’s free community awareness bulletin, Cyber Sushi
If you believe you have responded to a scam engagement, please complete an IDCARE Get Help form to request assistance.
IDCARE has formed response recommendations relating to the credentials potentially exposed as a result of the Sumo cyber incident. Sumo has informed IDCARE that not all attributes were exposed for each individual impacted. Please refer to your incident notification for specifics on what information of yours was exposed.
Potential Risks
A full name and date of birth are low risk identity attributes on their own. However, in combination with other information (such as address and phone number) scammers engaging you may appear more legitimate.
Recommendations
You may see an increase in targeted phishing attempts via email, text messaging or telephone calls, where the scammer uses details specific to you (such as your name and date of birth for “verification”). For more information on phishing watch IDCARE's what is phishing video here --> https://www.idcare.org/how-to-videos/what-is-phishing.
Never click on links in emails or text messages, no matter how legitimate they appear. Do not be pressured to respond, whether it is by email, text message or telephone. If you want to know whether an organisation tried to get in touch with you, contact the organisation yourself using contact details you know are correct.
Keep being scam vigilant and stay across the latest scams by regularly visiting idcare.org, connecting with our social media, and subscribing to our free online newsletter Cyber Sushi. Another great resource is Scamwatch that collate lots of information and alerts about scams.
Information
The phone number will be the one provided to Sumo. This could be your mobile or a landline/home phone number.
Potential Risks
The exposure of a phone number can leave you open to being targeted by spam or scam phone calls.
These can appear to be from legitimate phone numbers with local area codes.
They often claim to be an authority or organisation, such as the police, a telecommunication company or a government entity.
The scam-caller may frame the call with a sense of urgency, either in order to avoid a penalty (such as a payment or fine) or to receive a reward (such as a discount).
Scammers may send fraudulent SMS messages to the phone number. These may impersonate a legitimate organisation and include a link to a malicious download or scam website.
For more information on SMS scams please visit IDCARE's fact sheet --> https://www.idcare.org/fact-sheets/sms-scams.
Recommendations
Keep being super vigilant about scams, particularly telephone and SMS scams. Having a little bit of information exposed (such as your full name, address, date of birth, or phone number) can make the job of scammers much easier when convincing people about their deception.
Do not feel pressured to respond to a call or text message. If you think a call may be legitimate, hang up and call the organisation back using details that you know are correct. Do not accept that it is the real organisation because the Caller ID shows their correct number or name – these can be “spoofed” or masked to appear to be real.
Do not download apps or software (such as AnyDesk or TeamViewer), follow technology instructions, or allow remote access to your device to someone who has called you.
Do not click on links in text messages. Instead, contact the organisation using details you know are correct.
If you think a call may be legitimate, hang up and contact the organisation yourself using contact details you know are correct. Don’t automatically accept it’s the real organisation calling you because the caller ID shows their correct number or name: they can be manipulated to seem genuine.
Information
The residential address will be the one provided to Sumo.
Potential Risks
For most individuals, addresses are considered low risk identity attributes. However, in combination with other attributes (such as your full name, date of birth, email address and phone number) scammers engaging you via email, SMS or telephone may appear more legitimate.
Reports made to IDCARE of cyber criminals physically attending a person’s address are very low. Most scammers and cybercriminals are not in Australia.
Some people can have specific concerns about the exposure of their address details, such as survivors of family and domestic violence or as a result of other personal reasons.
Recommendation
You may wish to discuss your concerns around physical security. You may engage an IDCARE Case Manager with these concerns, please book a time via our Get Help for Individuals Form.
Information
The email address will be the one provided to Sumo.
Potential Risks
You may see an increase in email phishing attempts, particularly from scammers claiming to be from Sumo. These emails may include malicious attachments, links to fake websites or may download malware onto your device. They may encourage you to update or verify your details or to access a reimbursement via a link.
There is also the risk that your email address may be “spoofed” so that it appears to the recipients that the email came from you.
Additionally, there is the potential for extortion attempts, whereby a criminal claims to have access to your information and threatens to release it unless you provide payment. It is important not to comply with such requests, no matter how convincing they may appear.
Recommendations
Continue being super vigilant about scams and phishing emails. Having a little bit of information exposed (such as your full name, date of birth, email address or phone number) can make the job of scammers much easier when convincing people about their deception.
Beware of phishing emails, including those asking to update billing details, pay invoices or apply for reimbursements.
Never click on links in unsolicited or unexpected emails, no matter how legitimate they appear.
Do not be pressured to respond to emails. Instead, contact the organisation directly using contact details you know to be correct.
Use an up-to-date antivirus application that includes email protection and scanning.
Information
Please refer to your incident notification to determine whether this credential has been exposed. If notified that your driver licence was exposed, this is likely to have occurred when these details were provided to Sumo.
Potential Risks
The greatest risk of misuse of a driver licence is when the driver licence number (CRN) and card number have been compromised. Protective measures have recently been implemented to assist in mitigating fraudulent identity misuse of driver licences, whereby both numbers on your driver licence, specifically, the driver licence number (CRN) and the card number, are required to pass a Document Verification Service (DVS) check. Sumo has confirmed that for individuals who have experienced a compromise to their driver licence, the exposure is limited to the driver licence number (CRN) only.
Recommendations
As a precautionary measure, you may wish to consider credit bans and credit reports as additional measures to protect against credit misuse.
Information
Sumo have confirmed the information exposed is limited to the Medicare card number only. Please refer to your incident notification to determine whether this information was exposed.
Potential Risks
It is unlikely your Medicare card can be misused for identity fraud with the Medicare card number only. Further, Services Australia have advised that a Medicare account cannot be accessed with your Medicare card number alone. The greatest risk of identity misuse is when the full details on the Medicare card are exposed – the card number and the expiry date and the position on the card for the given person.
Recommendations
If you are concerned about the security of your Medicare account, please visit the Services Australia website for more information.
Information
The Passport details provided to Sumo. Please refer to your incident notification to determine whether this credential has been exposed.
Potential Risks
Passport details can present a potential risk of identity misuse. The document can be used as a form of ID to establish new accounts in a person's name, and in some cases, deceive either a person or an organisation into providing access to existing accounts.
Rarely does IDCARE hear from community members who have exposed passports about the use of their passport at the border by someone impersonating them to travel. Border security have measures in place to ensure only the legitimate passport holder can use the passport details for travel purposes.
Recommendations
As a first step, we recommend you consider credit bans and credit reports as precautionary measures to protect against credit misuse.
Information
Please refer to your incident notification to determine whether the bank account details you have provided to Sumo have been exposed.
Potential Risks
Although a BSB and account number does not present a direct financial misuse risk, the BSB does identify who the financial institution is. This may make impersonation scam attempts appear more legitimate.
Recommendations
You may wish to contact your financial institution to inform them of the breach and seek advice in relation to any additional security measures that may be required.
Information
Your Customer Reference Number (CRN) connected to your Centrelink concession card. Please refer to your incident notification to determine whether this information was exposed.
Potential Risks
A Centrelink Customer Reference Number does not pose a direct identity-related misuse risk. Further, Services Australia have advised that the CRN, on its own, is not able to be used as proof of identity when engaging with Centrelink.
Recommendations
There is no requirement to take any action in relation to your Centrelink concession card. However, if you are concerned, you may wish to speak to Centrelink to discuss adding a verbal password to your customer profile, as an added security option.
Information
The signature provided to Sumo. Please refer to your incident notification to determine whether this information was exposed.
Potential Risks
A signature is a low-risk identity attribute. It does not pose a direct identity-related misuse risk. Organisations do not rely on a signature as a form of ID for identity verification purposes.
Recommendations
There is no requirement to take any action in relation to your signature.
A Report Cyber number has been issued by the Australian Cyber Security Centre in relation to this incident. It is ACSC-10359. This report number can be used to extend the credit bans.
IDCARE as a registered charity does not ask individuals to donate or pay for our front line services. We are not a charity that can receive tax deductible donations.
We rely on organisations that care enough about you to care about us to keep our charitable service going. Proudly these organisations are displayed above and on our Subscriber Organisations page.
If you are asked for payment from someone claiming to be from IDCARE, please report this to us using our Report Phishing email.
IDCARE has access to the Department of Home Affairs Free Interpreting Service, delivered by the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National). Access to the Free Interpreting Service is provided to assist you to communicate with non-English speaking people who hold a Medicare card. Please note that the service does not extend to New Zealand citizens or residents who do not hold an Australian Medicare card, or to tourists, overseas students or people on temporary work visas.
New Zealand Relay provides services to help Deaf, hearing impaired, speech impaired, Deafblind and standard phone users communicate with their peers.
A TTY user connects to New Zealand Relay via a toll-free number and types their conversation to a Relay Assistant (RA) who then reads out the typed message to a standard phone user (hearing person).
The RA relays the hearing person's spoken words by typing them back to the Textphone (TTY) User.
The National Relay Service (NRS) is an Australian government initiative that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing and/or have a speech impairment to make and receive phone calls.
The NRS is available 24 hours a day, every day and relays more than a million calls each year throughout Australia.