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🗞️Over a Million People Affected by NSW Data Breach, Man Arrested

🗞️Over a Million People Affected by NSW Data Breach, Man Arrested

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A man in Fairfield West has been taken into custody by Cybercrime Squad detectives who are looking into a possible data breach that may have exposed the personal information of over a million people.Detectives from the Cybercrime Squad of State Crime Command received a tip yesterday, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, about a website that published the personal information of clients who had used their driver's licences to access specific NSW businesses.After closely collaborating with federal and state agencies to contain the breach, detectives from the Cybercrime Squad launched an investigation under the Strike Force Division.At around 4:20 p.m. today, Thursday, May 2, 2024, Strike Force detectives carried out a search warrant at Fairfield West after conducting a thorough investigation.At the address, a 46-year-old man was taken into custody. After being transported to the Fairfield Police Station, extortion charges are anticipated to be brought against him.Detective Acting Superintendent Gillian Lister, the commander of the Cybercrime Squad, stated that people should be reminded to check their personal cyber security in light of this breach.

"Now is the optimum time to make sure your cyber hygiene is good, you have strong passwords and use two-factor authentication where possible," said Detective Assistant Superintendent Lister.

Never click on a dubious or unfamiliar link, and exercise extra caution when reviewing emails or texts if you believe your information may have been compromised.

"Always report incidents of cybercrime through the Australian Cyber Security Centre or Scamwatch."

Earlier, An online data breach exposed the drivers licences of about a million pub and RSL patrons. Australian tech company OutABox, which supplies Clubs NSW with gaming and hospitality products, was involved in a data breach after offshore developers claimed they were not paid for work they completed over a year ago. Haveibeenoutaboxed.com claims over one million drivers' licences from pubs and clubs in Australia, Asia, and the US were compromised

The website claims at least 14 clubs were caught up in the potential leak.

It includes:

Breakers Country Club in Wamberal
Bulahdelah Bowling Club
Central Coast Leagues Club in Gosford
Mex Club in Mayfield
City of Sydney RSL
East Maitland Bowling Club
East Cessnock Bowling Club
Fairfield RSL
Gwandalan Bowling Club
Halekulani Bowling Club in Budgewoi
Ingleburn RSL Club
Club Old Bar
Club Terrigal
West Tradies in Dharruk

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The front-of-venue sign-in systems are provided by Outabox, an IT provider used by certain hospitality venues. "Became aware of a potential breach of data by an unauthorised third party from a sign in system used by our clients," Outabox said in a statement.

"Outabox has become aware of a potential breach of data by an unauthorised third party from a sign in system used by our clients. We are working as a priority to determine the facts around this incident, have notified the relevant authorities and are investigating in cooperation with law enforcement.

We are restricted by how much information we are able to provide at this stage given it is currently under active police investigation. We will provide further details as soon as we are able to.

We understand this news may cause concern to our staff, clients and their customers, and we thank them for their support and patience as we work to resolve this as swiftly as possible.”

According to a statement from ClubsNSW, there isn't much information available right now, and the organisation is coordinating with the venues to let their thousands of customers know.It is advised that patrons of any of the affected bars and clubs exercise caution when clicking on links in emails and text messages.authorised third party from one of our clients' sign-in systems."James Paterson, the shadow minister of home affairs and cyber security, called on OutABox and bars and clubs to be transparent about the situation on Thursday. It is imperative that the Australian service provider maintains complete transparency regarding the events that have transpired. He told Sky News Australia host Peter Stefanovic, "I've seen a statement they put out, which is frankly pretty defensive and didn't provide much information."The data breach by a string of NSW and ACT Clubs is inexcusable and damaging and would have been avoided by a centralised, secure universal cashless gambling card system, the Alliance for Gambling Reform CEO Carol Bennett, says.

“This breach highlights just how unaccountable clubs are and how haphazard they are with the mountain of private information they routinely collect from the public – without direct consent,” she said.

“To simply give this confidential data to a third party IT provider in the United States shows how flawed the current system is.”

Ms Bennett said the current ad hoc system where clubs ‘all do their own thing’ with confidential and sensitive private data is unacceptable.

“And the answer is not digital wallets which are also not secure as we have seen in the flawed and unnecessary trial sluggishly being conducted in NSW – which has also suffered data breaches,” Ms Bennett said.

“The answer is to have a properly funded, secure, centralised mandatory cashless gambling card that all clubs must adopt. Then the information is secure and it is not able to be used in a cavalier way at the whim of individual clubs.”

Ms Bennett said the NSW Crime Commission found that a mandatory cashless gambling card with pre-set limits would also reduce gambling harm and combat money laundering.

Australians lose over $25 billion each year to gambling, the highest per capita spend in the world. Poker machines (only in clubs and pubs on the east coast of Australia) accounted for $14.5 billion in losses in 22/23. NSW loses more than $8b of the overall national figure.

These losses are disproportionately experienced by the people who can least afford it: people living with financial and other forms of stress, and people with mental health issues and addiction problems.

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🗞️Over a Million People Affected by NSW Data Breach, Man Arrested

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