Telstra has disabled external-facing access to a database used by some enterprise and wholesale customers to manage network settings and usage, with it now inaccessible for a week.
The CustData – customer data – self-service portal was taken down for what iTnews understands is unplanned work.
The exact nature of the issue could not be verified by iTnews.
It’s understood that CustData remains internally accessible to Telstra staff, but external access has been cut off.
Accessing the page produces a “www.telstra.net refused to connect” error.
There is currently no ETA for access to be reinstated, with customers having to pursue any changes – such as to DNS settings – by logging a support ticket through a different tool, Telstra Connect, or by calling a number.
“Last week, we took the CustData database offline to make updates to the system,” a Telstra spokesperson told iTnews.
“While we don’t yet have a confirmed timeline for completion, we’ll continue to communicate with relevant customers to keep them informed on progress.
“To support customers while this work is underway, we have a dedicated team that can support any service changes required until full customer access is restored.”
CustData is promoted [pdf] as a “secure account information and management portal” that can be used to “configure and test services, view outage reports and log faults, [access] comprehensive service performance reporting tools, check monthly usage reports [and] manage usage threshold alerts.”
The Telstra literature notes that “CustData could provide first evidence of a denial of service (DoS) attack, mail relay issue, open proxy issue, virus activity or poor network configuration.”
The telco’s spokesperson said that impacted enterprise customers should use Telstra Connect “to lodge a support request” while wholesale customers should call 1300 897 378 to have changes to their services made manually.
Some administrators are understood to have deferred more complex changes to their environments while CustData remains inaccessible.