Telstra warns of metadata honeypot

Vast quantities of telecommunications data stored in a central system would be an attractive target for hackers, including foreign spy agencies, Telstra says.

Michael Burgess, Telstra's chief information security officer, says such a store would be a "pot of gold" for intruders who would otherwise have to work their way through Telstra's complex IT system to access the sama data.

"I know that because if I was in a foreign intelligence service wanting to hack Telstra's network, this new proposed system would be where I would go," he told a parliamentary committee hearing.

"Hackers would take advantage of that."

Mr Burgess said extra security measures would certainly be required to ensure this data stayed safe.

The joint committee on intelligence and security is examining the federal government's Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014.

It would give security agencies greater investigative powers and, most controversially, requires telecommunications companies to retain metadata for at least two years.

Metadata is information accompanying phone calls and emails relating to time, origin and destination but not content.

Telstra's director of government relations, James Shaw, says the requirement for telcos to create centralised systems to extract, index and safely store this data and allow access to approved agencies would impose significant costs.

The government has pledged to contribute.

But Telstra's cost estimate was commercial in confidence, he said.