Law firms Gordon Legal and Hayden Stephens and Associates (HSA) announced on Tuesday 28th March they are investigating a potential legal action against Latitude Financial Services (ASX: LFS) over recent data breach allegations.
The investigation comes after Latitude announced that it had experienced a data breach that resulted in the unauthorised access of highly personal and sensitive customer data resulting in trading being ceased on the Australian Securities Exchange earlier this month
The financial services company reported that a data breach, affecting several million former and current customers, has seen information including driver’s licenses, license numbers, passport numbers, monthly financial statements, and personal information totalling 6.1 million record
Latitude Financial Services is an ASX-listed Australian financial services company that offers a range of consumer finance products, including personal loans, credit cards, and insurance.
“We are deeply concerned about the impact of this data breach on Latitude customers,” said James Naughton Partner, at Gordon Legal.
“We are investigating how a breach of this size could occur. Latitude customers deserve to understand their legal rights and the steps that have been taken to protect their personal data.”
The investigation will examine the circumstances surrounding the breach, including the effectiveness of Latitude’s security measures and protocols and whether the company took appropriate steps to protect its customers’ personal information.
The decision to take action is a response from the legal industry after the 2022 data security breach at Medibank (ASX: MPL), which led to the theft of personal information belonging to 9.7 million Australian customers.
Law firms Gordon Legal and HSA have extensive experience managing complex class actions. The two firms are also collaborating on several wage theft actions in the Federal Court on behalf of junior doctors.
Latitude Financial Services chief executive Ahmed Fahour has said the company is committed to working with customers affected by the data breach