Australia's Latitude Group opposed to paying ransom to cyber attack criminals

[April 11, 2023]  (Reuters) - Australian consumer finance firm Latitude Group Holdings Ltd will not pay a ransom to those behind a cyber attack last month, saying it will be detrimental to customers and cause harm to the broader community by encouraging further attacks.  

"We will not reward criminal behavior, nor do we believe that paying a ransom will result in the return or destruction of the information that was stolen," Latitude said in a statement on Tuesday.

Last month, the company said hackers stole nearly 8 million Australian and New Zealand drivers license numbers in one of the country's biggest confirmed data breaches.

Latitude, which provides consumer finance services to retailers Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, had also taken its platforms offline.

"Regular business operations are being restored, with Latitude's primary Customer Contact Centre back online and operating at full capacity," said the company.

Several Australian firms have reported cyber attacks over the past few months, which experts attribute to an understaffed cyber security industry.

(Reporting by Jaskiran Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Subhranshu Sahu)

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