Australia: the data of 14 million customers of a stolen credit company

Consumer finance firm Latitude Financial reported on Monday that the personal data of around 14 million of its Australian and New Zealand customers has been stolen by hackers.

The company already alerted to the incident earlier in March, initially noting the theft of 330,000 customer data. But on Monday, the firm said that according to an internal study, the breach is much larger – equivalent to almost half of both countries.

“We recognize that today’s announcement will be a distressing event for many of our customers and we apologize profusely,” the company said.

According to the company, 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand driving licenses have been stolen, along with 53,000 passport numbers.

6.1 million records dating back to at least 2005 and containing information such as names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth were also hacked.

Hackers took employee login credentials to steal information.

Ahmed Fahour, managing director of Latitude Financial, said the company is doing everything possible to improve the platforms affected by the attack and is implementing additional security measures.

Latitude Financial also said it is working with government cybersecurity experts and its own advisers, and that the Australian Federal Police have also opened an investigation.

The company said it would reimburse customers who decided to replace their documents.

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