The company that extends credit to JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman customers reports 100,000 ID documents and 225,000 customer records stolen
On Thursday, Latitude Financial, a lender providing personal loans and credit to shoppers at stores like JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, revealed a cyber-attack that resulted in theft of over 100,000 ID documents and 225,000 customer records. The majority of the stolen IDs were driver’s license copies, as per their statement to the market. The attack was described as sophisticated and malicious.
By using employee login credentials, the attacker stole personal information held by two service providers. This breach adds to a list of major attacks on Australian companies, such as Optus and Medibank. Law firms are considering or have started legal actions against the telco and health insurer for exposing their customers’ personal details in massive data breaches.
Prof. Alex Frino from the University of Wollongong conducted research that revealed several listed companies in Australia did not inform shareholders about significant cyber-attacks they faced. According to the research released last month, out of the 36 cyber-attacks against listed companies reported in media over a decade, 11 were not disclosed to the market initially.
In the previous financial year, Australia’s mandatory data breach notification scheme received 853 notifications, but most of them were not made public. Meanwhile, Latitude has suspended share trading as they attempt to manage the cyber-attack incident.
Former CEO of Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour, currently leads Latitude, but is set to retire from his position by August-end. Meanwhile, the lender and Harvey Norman are being sued by the corporate regulator over ads that purportedly advertised interest-free and no-deposit payments for products.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the ads allegedly promoting interest-free and no-deposit payments for goods were misleading since they did not mention the need for a Latitude credit card and associated fees. Latitude, in a statement, mentioned that it is cooperating with the regulator.
