Good morning, TGIF. This is your last tech news briefing for the week, so let’s get to it.
1. Massive Latitude data breach
The big story coming out of yesterday was the cyber attack experienced by Aussie financial services firm Latitude. Latitude, used for loan services by the likes of Harvey Norman, The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi, began alerting customers of a massive data breach, one it described as being the result of a “sophisticated and malicious cyber attack”. In total, 328,000 customers are at risk with approximately 100,000 identification documents accessed believed to be driver’s licence info.
2. Circles.Life pays $253,080 penance
Circles.Life is the latest telco to pay the price for failing to do one of the many things it’s gotta do under Aussie law. That thing was provide customer information to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND), and according to the ACMA, Circles.Life failed to do this on more than 60,000 occasions. Circles.Life has paid a $253,080 infringement notice after the ACMA found there was large-scale breaches of those IPND rules that are intended to protect the safety of Australians.
3. Telstra says we’re not good at detecting scams
Research conducted by Telstra has found 82 per cent of Australians are confident they can detect a cybercrime attempt, yet almost half (47 per cent) have been (or think they have been) recently scammed. So why aren’t Aussies acting on their instincts; being vigilant, detecting and reporting scams? Well, according to Telstra, 57 per cent of Australians who have been scammed admit that they should pay better attention to their cyber security but are unsure how to go about it, which is more likely than those who haven’t been scammed (38 per cent). So does that mean we’re just clicking anyway, or do we think we’re better at detecting scams than we actually are?
4. Spoofing the Australian government
The Guardian is reporting that a voice identification system used by Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office has a serious security flaw. Per an investigation two of the publication’s journalists undertook, the government-used voice ID services was able to be spoofed, allowing the spoofers to verify their own identity over the phone using a recording.
5. Pixel 7a prototype or another case of spoofing?
An eBay user spent more than $US2,500 (a little over $3,500) for what might be Google’s upcoming mid-range phone, a device that by the seller’s admission doesn’t even work. This week saw two separate “Google Pixel 7A Prototype” eBay listings hit the site, both posted by the seller “nikoskom-94.” While one sold, the other listing was suddenly taken down without notice. The seller noted that the device doesn’t actually start correctly, and is only able to enter into a fastboot mode. Whatever you think of the sale, it at least means we’re getting a few more pictures of the alleged Pixel 7a that could be hitting store shelves in just three months’ time.
BONUS ITEM: : )
Have a fabulous weekend.