Latitude Financial Services, Australia's leading loan provider, is warning its customers that the data breach affecting their company has escalated in size from 328,000 people to a worrying 14 million!
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In a disturbing announcement, Latitude Financial Services (Latitude) has warned its customers that its data breach is much more widespread than initially reported. Instead of the initial figure of 328,000 people exposed, 14 million have actually been affected by this security incident.
On March 16, 2023, Latitude Financial Services disclosed a cyberattack in which an attacker gained access to an employee's credentials and breached two service providers with customer data. This breach posed a significant threat to the security of Latitude customers.
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At the time, the company assumed that an attacker had compromised about 328 thousand customer records, mainly driver's licenses.
Upon receiving the notification, Latitude immediately took action to limit further damage, shutting down customer- facing systems and initiating an investigation into the full impact of the attack
14 million users affected
Unfortunately, upon further examination of the incident, Latitude discovered that its impact was more widespread than initially anticipated - 14 million customers and loan applicants from Australia and New Zealand.
Not only was 6.1 million customer records accessed, but the data contained full names, home addresses, phone numbers , and dates of birth.
Additionally, Latitude revealed that the perpetrators escaped with approximately 53,000 passport numbers.
Latitude stands by its customers, offering compensation to those whose identities have been stolen and suggesting they monitor their credit reports for any signs of fraudulent activity.
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As a stern warning to citizens, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) is reminding everyone that purchasing stolen information online is highly illegal and can result in up to 10 years in prison.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
