Major Data Breaches in 2023: A Recap of Significant Cyber-Attacks
In recent years, data breaches have been occurring every day around the world. In Australia alone, we have already experienced our fair share of cyber crimes just within the first 3 months of 2023. Below is a few major data breaches that are still occurring and being investigated:
52,672 Students set back as QUT Gets Hacked
On the 1st of Jan, the Queensland University of Technology publicly informed staff and students of a cyber attack that took place, forcing the school to shut down its services until the 3rd of Jan and pushing back courses and exams to early Feb. A ransomware gang called “Royal” has claimed responsibility of the recent data breach and have stated to have successfully stolen data from the school. The hacking group posted 10% of the data onto a leak site, showing emails, HR files, administrative and financial documents. Bleeping Computer could not verify the data but added they appear to be linked to the University.
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Severe Cyber Attack Burns Fire Rescue Victoria
On the 6th of Jan, the FRV (Fire Rescue Victoria) reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner a cyber attack that dates back to the 15th of Dec last year. Data stolen included budget documents, names, addresses, employment history, religious and political views, and even the criminal history of FRV employees. 85 fire stations were affected by the threat actor who uploaded a sample of the data onto the dark web. To date, the IT infrastructure of the FRV is still not fully operational and is still relying on external resources (e.g. pagers, and radios).
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1.85million Good Guys Customers Compromised
On the 27th of Feb, The Good Guys contacted 1.85million past and present customers as their data have been made publicly available by an unknown hacker confirmed to have been stolen way back in August 2021. The data in question came from a company called “Pegasus Group Australia” now commonly known as “My Rewards” (where the data breach took place). Due to the incident, The Good Guys were forced to cut ties with the “My Rewards” company.
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Latitude Australia Suffers a Critical Hack
On the 16th of March, Australia’s Latitude Financial come out publicly about a critical hack that has taken place sometime last year, even before the infamous Optus hack, and continues to date! Currently, up to 330,000 customers of latitude, past and present, have had their information compromised. The data stolen contained copies of licenses, including their numbers and 5% of that data contained FULL details of customers’ passports and Medicare cards. Details of the threat actor's responsible have not been made public by Latitude. However, Latitude confirmed an employee’s credentials were obtained by the hacker, who then proceeded to download customer files from service providers from Latitude. The company has confirmed that the number of customers affected will rise in the following days.
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This is Part of our Cyber Security awareness educational campaign. Through this training, you will learn awareness and key principles, and best practices to protect yourself, your organisation, and the public from cyber attackers. You will also be equipped with the knowledge to identify potential threats and take action before any damage can occur.