Latitude Financial vows not to pay ransom to hackers in wake of massive data breach

Lender says ‘no guarantee’ paying ransom would result in destruction of data and doing so ‘would only encourage further extortion attempts’

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Consumer lender Latitude Financial has vowed not to pay a ransom to those behind a massive cyber-attack that resulted in the largest-known data breach of an Australian financial institution.

Latitude, which offers personal loans and credit to customers at stores including JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Harvey Norman, said on Tuesday that its position was in line with Australian government policies.

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