Victorian driver’s licences are getting a wee revamp following the big ol’ Optus data breach situation, which affected nearly 10 million current and former customers. Let’s have a squiz at what the new shiny thing will feature, shall we?
According to VicRoads, a fancy new number will be added to the back of the licence. This will essentially work in the same way as the three-digit code on the back of your credit card, in that it’ll allow for two-step verification and give folks another layer of protection.
VicRoads said people flexing the new piece of plastic will need to use both their licence number and card number for identity verification in scenarios like opening a bank account or sorting out a new phone plan. This new-fangled way to prove your identity is set to be rolled out by the end of the year.
Victorians affected by the Optus hack will cop their swanky new driver’s licences first. VicRoads said data obtained from the Department of Home Affairs found 942,000 licence holders had their deets compromised as a result of the cyberattack. Ruh roh, Raggy.
342,000 folks who were flagged as being directly affected by the little old data breach will receive their new driver’s licences in the mail by the end of 2022. New year, new driver’s licence!
As for the additional 600,000 Victorians who the Department of Home Affairs identified as being caught up in the cyberattack, their new cards should arrive by early 2023.
All Victorian driver’s licenses issued from November 2022 will have the new card number. A spot of two-step verification, as a treat.
“The Victorian government will work to progressively implement this additional protection for all 5 million Victorian licence holders once the rollout for those impacted in the Optus data breach is completed,” VicRoads said.
It looks like a shit tonne of Victorians will be in their Olivia Rodrigo ‘drivers license’ era. After it arrives in the mail I hope they sing, “I got my driver’s licence last week, just like we always spoke about”.
VicRoads said the state government will ask Optus to cop the bill for the new driver’s licences. As they should, I say.
