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AAP
AAP
Politics
Dominic Giannini

Singapore PM offers help with Optus breach

PM Lee Hsien Loong has offered to help Australia deal with the data breach at Singapore-owned Optus. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Singapore has offered to help the Australian government in responding to the Optus data breach after almost 10 million people had their data stolen.

Optus is owned by Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate Singtel.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said while Optus was an Australian company operated out of Australia, Singtel was taking the incident seriously and offering its support.

"Agencies have also reached out to the Australian counterparts and stand ready to provide support to the Australian government should our assistance be needed," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

"Singapore takes the data breach very seriously.

"We expect all Singapore companies to comply fully with domestic laws wherever they operate and cooperate with the domestic regulators."

Mr Lee is in Australia for a two-day visit, and said he discussed the issue with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a bilateral meeting on Tuesday.

Following the meeting, Mr Albanese said issues exposed by the Optus hack were covered by Australian privacy laws.

"It's a wake-up call to all companies about data retention and about the need to be vigilant in making sure the provisions of the Privacy Act are complied with," he said.

"I appreciate the (Singaporean) prime minister being co-operative on this issue."

The Albanese government issued new regulations for telecommunication operators in the wake of the Optus breach, allowing the companies to more easily share data with financial institutions to better prevent fraud.

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