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The Australian financial service provider, Latitude Financial Services, has suffered a massive data breach that has led to the theft of 14 million records. This is a significant increase from the previously reported figure of 328,000 records. The breach has exposed sensitive information such as Latitude’s customers’ names, addresses, birthdates, and credit card details.
Latitude Financial Services is a leading provider of financial services in Australia, offering personal loans, credit cards, and insurance products. The company reported a data breach on March 16th, which led to the theft of 328,000 records. However, recent investigations have revealed that the breach was much more extensive than initially reported, with 14 million records stolen.
Latitude was a former division of the Australian Guarantee Corporation before its launch in 2015. This is why some of the stolen data dates back 18 years ago. It is pretty alarming why the company still hoards some old client data.
The additional records show that 6.1 million stolen data, including customers’ names, addresses, birthdates, contact information, employment details, and credit card information, dating back to 2005. Moreover, the 5.7 million hacked information was from 2013.
Latitude has assured its customers that it is working with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident and take appropriate action to prevent further breaches. The company has also implemented additional security measures to protect its customers’ data and prevent future breaches.
The data breach has highlighted the need for organisations to take cybersecurity seriously and implement robust security measures to protect their customers’ data. The breach has also raised concerns about the effectiveness of Australia’s data breach notification laws, which require organisations to notify customers if their data has been breached.
“On the back of the successful attack on Medibank and Optus late last year Australia has entered the mainstream as an attack target. We have seen continued focus globally on centralised data repositories, specifically in sectors such as Healthcare, government and education. Latitude is the latest victim of this growing trend and highlights the need for data exfiltration monitoring and protection to stop such breaches moving forward. Like any attack, prevention is the best course of action, with large fines imposed by most governments, as well as exposure to class action lawsuits. Limitations in cyber insurance policies and the number of exclusions mean businesses should be focused on protection rather than remediation to mitigate risk from attack. The only safe risk is zero,” said Dr Darren Williams, CEO and Founder of BlackFog.
The data breach of Latitude Financial Services is a wake-up call for organisations to prioritise cybersecurity and take steps to prevent data breaches. The breach has exposed sensitive customer data and raised concerns about the effectiveness of data breach notification laws.
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