In an attempt to verify if the breach of Latitude Financial data was impacting Coles, the supermarket giant has confirmed it has. As part of the report, the company alleges that a cybercriminal gang has stolen the information used to issue previous Coles credit cards.
Within the 14 million stolen customer records, there was information regarding 7.9 million driver's licenses and about 53,000 passport numbers that were among the data stolen from the hack, which was detected last month. According to the company's report, this data breach occurred in March 2023 and was reported to the regulators.
As a result of the breach, Latitude Financial Services has notified Coles of the issue and is in the process of reaching out to all affected clients.
The breach compromised thousands of passport numbers, along with personal information such as driver's license numbers, names, addresses, dates of birth, and other personal information. This included thousands of driver's license numbers.
Despite this, the supermarket giant has not yet been informed of the number of customer accounts that have been affected by this incident.
Despite Coles' assertions, he has yet to release any further information regarding this data breach incident. A data breach reported by Latitude Financial has confirmed that historically Coles credit card owners have been affected by the breach. Several customers have been affected and a Latitude Financial spokesperson is contacting them. “In March 2018, Coles Financial Services moved its credit cards to Citibank,” a Coles spokeswoman said.
There has been a confirmed contact between Latitude and the group behind the hack. The group sent Latitude a ransom note demanding payment.
The company is taking a variety of measures to provide support and information to customers affected by the loss of their personal information and to inform them about what happened.
Even though a third-party platform was likely involved in the breach, this information has not been released by Latitude, nor have the criminals revealed who they are.
Additionally, the firm has established a contact center in Australia and New Zealand to assist individuals affected by this natural disaster. It was further assured that if any of the stolen identification documents needed to be replaced, the company would reimburse the affected customers.
There have been multiple attempts made to contact Myer as well as Latitude Financial - both of which have branded Visa credit cards through GE Money.
There are several major retailers, such as Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, JB HI-Fi, Apple, and Amart Furniture, that offer interest-free credit cards and personal loans through Latitude Financial, which used to be known as GE Money.
This is one of the most significant data breach that ever took place in Australia.