Latitude Financial insists it won't pay ransom demand by criminals behind cyber attack

Latitude Financial Services has received a ransom demand from the hackers behind the massive cyber attack but the non-bank lender has insisted it will not pay.

In an ASX update, the company said the ransom demand appeared genuine because data detailed in it was consistent with the number of affected customers disclosed by Latitude last month.

On March 27, the company said it had identified about 14 million current and former Australian and New Zealand customers who had personal data stolen.

READ MORE: Millions of customer records stolen in Latitude Financial data breach

But today, Latitude Financial chief executive Bob Belan maintained it would not meet any ransom demands.

"Latitude will not pay a ransom to criminals. Based on the evidence and advice, there is simply no guarantee that doing so would result in any customer data being destroyed and it would only encourage further extortion attempts on Australian and New Zealand businesses in the future," he said.

"Our priority remains on contacting every customer whose personal information was compromised and to support them through this process.

"In parallel, our teams have been focused on safely restoring our IT systems, bringing staffing levels back to full capacity, enhancing security protections and returning to normal operations.

The data breach remains under investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

READ MORE: Alleged scammer arrested after evading police for 10 years

Latitude has not revealed details of the ransom demands, including the amount of money the criminals wanted.

Latitude said responding to customer inquiries is a continuing priority.

READ MORE: What to do if your data is compromised in a company hack?

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