Latitude Financial says it won't pay ransomware fee

Latitude Financial, an Australian consumer finance firm, has said that it will refuse to pay a ransomware fee after being attacked last month.

In a statement published on Tuesday, the firm said that its stance is "consistent with the position of the Australian government" and that paying the fee would "be detrimental to our customers and cause harm to the broader community by encouraging further criminal attacks."

The company last month confirmed that hackers had stolen nearly 8 million drivers licence numbers from customers in Australia and New Zealand in what was one of the country’s biggest confirmed data breaches. It said that it does not believe that paying a ransom will result in the return or destruction of the stolen information.

Latitude Financial, which provides consumer finance services to retailers including Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, has taken its platforms offline in the period since the attack.

In a statement, the company said that it is in the process of contacting all affected customers, past and present, and that it will complete its support and remediation processes “as quickly as we can.”

Commenting on the update, Latitude Financial chief executive officer Bob Belan said: "Latitude will not pay a ransom to criminals. Based on the evidence and advice, there is simply no guarantee that doing so would result in any customer data being destroyed and it would only encourage further extortion attempts on Australian and New Zealand businesses in the future.

"I apologise personally and sincerely for the distress that this cyber-attack has caused and I hope that in time we are able to earn back the confidence of our customers."

    Share Story:

Recent Stories


Data trust in the AI era: Building customer confidence through responsible banking
In the second episode of FStech’s three-part video podcast series sponsored by HCLTech, Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President & Head of Financial Services for Europe & UKI at HCLTech examines the critical relationship between data trust, transparency, and responsible AI implementation in financial services.

Banking's GenAI evolution: Beyond the hype, building the future
In the first episode of a three-part video podcast series sponsored by HCLTech, Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President & Head of Financial Services for Europe & UKI at HCLTech explores how financial institutions can navigate the transformative potential of Generative AI while building lasting foundations for innovation.

Beyond compliance: Transforming document management into a strategic advantage for financial institutions
In this exclusive fireside chat, John Rockliffe, Pre-Sales Manager at d.velop, discusses the findings of Adapting to a Digital-Native World: Financial Services Document Management Beyond 2025 and explores how FSIs can turn document workflows into a competitive advantage.

Sanctions evasion in an era of conflict: Optimising KYC and monitoring to tackle crime
The ongoing war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions on Russia, and the continuing geopolitical tensions have resulted in an unprecedented increase in parties added to sanctions lists.