Hackers Steal Nearly 8 Million SIM Numbers And Passports In Australia From Latitude

Latitude CEO, Ahmed Fahour, said that he would not fix platforms affected by cyber attacks. (photo: twitter @latitude_fs)

Australia's consumer financial company Latitude Group Holdings Ltd announced that hackers stole nearly 8 million SIM numbers as well as drivers from Australia and New Zealand in one of the country's largest confirmed data breaches, which saw its shares drop.

JAKARTA - Credit card providers and private loans to some of Australia's largest retailers added that hackers also took about 53,000 passport numbers and more than 6 million customer records, mostly between 2005 and 2013, in what they called "dangerable development".

The update shows that the temporarily freezing Latitude's operations affected far more customers than the company first disclosed on March 16, when it said criminals took 103,000 SIMs.

Kini, kejadian ini masuk dalam pencurian data terbesar di negara itu, hanya di belakang perusahaan telecommunications nomor dua milik Singapura Telecommunications Ltd, Optus, dan asuransi medis Medibank Private Ltd yang masing-masing mengatakan rincian tentang sekitar 10 juta akun pelanggan mereka telah terancam dalam serangan pada akhir tahun lalu.

Since the wave of data breaches began with Optus, the Australian government has stepped up sanctions for companies that fail to adequately protect customer data as part of a reshuffle of the ongoing national cybersecurity strategy.

"Cyber attacks are an increasing threat and will be a more routine part of our lives over the years ahead, and this incident is another reminder of the importance of improving cybersecurity and privacy arrangements in Australia," said Cybersecurity Secretary Clare O'Neil.

"Our ties remain that no customer has to bear the cost of data breaches," he added, noting that Latitude is working with the authorities to manage the impact of the attack.

Latitude's shares closed down 2.5% in the market overall flat, as investors feared that the company's exposure might be worse than previously thought.

"Every time investors hear about data breaches, they tend to think the worst," said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.

Latitude said in a statement that its insurance includes cybersecurity risks.

"We are improving the platform affected by the attack and have implemented additional security monitoring as we return to operations in the next few days," Latitude CEO Ahmed Fahour said in a statement.