Financial firm expects sharp drop in earnings after data breach

Australia-based financial service company Latitude Group Holdings Ltd. expects its profit to fall by at least $128 million Australia ($83.43 million) this year, after a data breach restricted new account originations and collections for five weeks, Business News Australia reported. The data breach also led to Australia’s privacy watchdog entering into a joint investigation with the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) to scrutinise whether the finance firm took reasonable steps to protect the personal information they held from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.