A huge screen will be erected this week to cover the Optus brand in one of the largest stadiums in the United States. But not the reason you think.
Perth’s Optus Stadium will remove the telecommunications giant’s internal branding from the inside and block it from the outside, due to the provisions of a naming rights agreement signed with the state by Mark McGowan in 2017.
The contract is worth $50 million and runs through 2028.
Cricket Australia is required to advertise the stadium as Perth Stadium for all international cricket matches, while ICC T20, starting on 16 October, will require all sponsored signage to be removed from all venues.
The removal of the Optus brand will last for the duration of the Cricket World Cup, which runs from October 16th to November 13th.
Optus has been under extreme pressure in recent weeks after a data breach in September exposed the personal information of nearly 10 million Australians.
A naming deal between the Optus and McGowan governments has been attacked by state opposition after the data breach, and State Liberal Senator Tjorn Simba has called the deal “cheap and obscene.”
Simba also demanded that the contract be canceled at Optus’ expense.
On Thursday, the Australian Federal Police 19-year-old Sydney man arrested Regarding the data breach, he claimed to have texted 93 customers, offering them a financial crime with their personal information if they didn’t pay $2,000.
Cyber Command Undersecretary Justine Gough said the man was not suspected of being the individual responsible for the Optus breach, but police would allege that he was trying to profit financially from stolen data dumped on an online forum.
The federal government and the AFP are still investigating the source of the cyber attack and have yet to arrest the hacker.
Originally published as Battle removes Optus branding from Optus Stadium after telecommunications company hacked
