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DjShadow

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#303895 18-Mar-2023 13:24
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Received this e-mail overnight from Latitude Finance

 

We’re writing to you directly to update you on a recent cyber-attack that Latitude Financial is actively responding to. Regrettably, the attack has resulted in the theft of some customer data.

The attacker appears to have stolen personal information that was held by two Latitude service providers, impacting customers across both Australia and New Zealand.

As of today, we understand that approximately 103,000 identification documents, more than 97% of which are copies of drivers’ licenses, were stolen from one service provider. Approximately 225,000 customer records were stolen from a second service provider.

Latitude apologises to its customers, particularly those who were impacted. Please be assured we will contact you directly if your personal information has been disclosed.

We are working with the relevant authorities and have engaged cyber security specialists as we continue to do everything in our power to contain the attack.

As a valued Latitude customer, we thank you for your understanding and patience. Our services remain available and you should have confidence in using them.

Please continue to monitor Latitude’s website where we will be publishing further information as it becomes available.

Andrew Walduck
Chief Operating Officer

 

Story on stuff here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/131524535/latitiude-financial-cyberattack-exposes-the-data-of-more-than-300000-customers-in-nz-and-australia

 

I've got one of their cards, I'm waiting to see if they confirm if my data is included but I'm ordering Credit Reports now just in case


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qwertee
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  #3051496 18-Mar-2023 13:48
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I got the email too as user of a GEM CreditLine card, that I use occasionally for hire - purchases.
Nothing abnormal on my account.  So watching this space.

 

Cheers




gehenna
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  #3051497 18-Mar-2023 13:49
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It's not really your account you have to worry about, it's new accounts set up with your identity.

kiwiharry
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  #3051509 18-Mar-2023 15:09
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I had my driver's licence renewed last month so the licence version number will now be different from what Gem/Latitude had in their records.

Unsure if that is enough though to prevent fraud and identity theft if they do have my info.




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qwertee
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  #3051512 18-Mar-2023 15:18
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gehenna: It's not really your account you have to worry about, it's new accounts set up with your identity.

 

Oh My! Thats a worrying concern.  Wonder how/when I would know ?

 

cheers


DjShadow

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  #3051525 18-Mar-2023 16:08
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qwertee:

 

gehenna: It's not really your account you have to worry about, it's new accounts set up with your identity.

 

Oh My! Thats a worrying concern.  Wonder how/when I would know ?

 

cheers

 

 

In short, request copies of your Credit Records. Links to the main 3 here: https://sorted.org.nz/blog/how-to-check-your-credit-rating-get-your-credit-report-online

 

 


michaelmurfy
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  #3051659 18-Mar-2023 19:14
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I'm actually incredibly pissed that there was an apparent lapse in security here that allowed for KYC data to be extracted. This is something that should be harder to access and extract. I wouldn't care as much if it was just my card details compromised but identify fraud is something that can really affect you.

 

I've got a Gem Visa so my ID is potentially compromised now. If I am in the batch of those confirmed compromised I will be making a complaint to the privacy commissioner along with maybe taking legal action against Latitude.

 

Apart from this - there is some light reading here for anyone who may be affected: https://www.privacy.org.nz/resources-2/protecting-yourself-from-a-privacy-breach/





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cokemaster
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  #3051667 18-Mar-2023 19:32
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Fully agree, @michaelmurfy. A breach of this scale is obscene, particularly in light of rather significant breaches in Aus (Optus and Medibank). 
Now that the horse has left the barn, I fully expect Latitude to provide full identity/credit protection services and not just call it a day on account of your cards still working.

 

I've gone through the new and improved Optus identification journey, it seems to be light years ahead of some of the practices in place in NZ.





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alasta
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  #3051808 19-Mar-2023 11:50
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Is it common practice for financial institutions to store identity documents like this? I would have thought it would be sufficient to just sight them at the point of opening an account? Or is there some sort of anti-money laundering rule that requires them to retain such documentation? 


michaelmurfy
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  #3051832 19-Mar-2023 13:21
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alasta:

 

Is it common practice for financial institutions to store identity documents like this?

 

Yes and no, required for KYC (Know your customer) but should also be protected and access limited to only people who need it but also some banks will allow verification via for example RealMe. I remember working in the banks contact centre ages ago we could look at documents but these were logged and not in a general file store but instead in the application we used to manage their accounts. There was no way to do a bulk download.





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richms
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  #3051863 19-Mar-2023 14:54
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This is why I hate that the govt basically forces places to store copies of this information. Once verified they have no business keeping copies of this information, yet they are forced to by the "anti terrorism" boogeyman stories that they peddle to force people off a cash economy and making everything recorded and traceable.





Richard rich.ms

DjShadow

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  #3052463 20-Mar-2023 18:56
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This is the main info page from Latitude about this incident: https://gemfinance.zendesk.com/hc/en-nz/articles/13777730237713-Latitude-Cyber-Incident-Update

 

Looks like records from past customers may be compromised also


Benoire
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  #3052466 20-Mar-2023 19:07
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If anyone wants to get online and check their balance etc, the old gem visa nz website still works but the latitude finance one is down.

michaelmurfy
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  #3052469 20-Mar-2023 19:25
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I'm also noticing that payments have not been credited to my card lately but I just checked and I am not getting old, I 100% made these. On Gem's website it states "It can take up to two working days for a payment to be credited to your account." and I would expect payments to show a week after I made them. Perhaps another internal system they have taken offline or switched to manual process for now.

 

Still however got an email saying a payment is due so at-least that system is working.





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richms
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  #3052578 20-Mar-2023 22:02
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sums up how I feel





Richard rich.ms

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