Millions of hacked customers could sue Latitude
Millions of Latitude Financial customers may have the chance to take civil action against the hacked company if their sensitive data was stolen in a major data breach.
Latitude, which offers loans, credit cards and insurance, confirmed 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand driver's licence numbers have been compromised.
Civil litigation experts Gordon Legal and Hayden Stephens and Associates today declared they are joining forces to investigate potential legal action.
Latitude Financial said the attackers were able to obtain Latitude employee credentials before the incident was isolated (AAP)Gordon Legal's James Naughton said his firm was "deeply concerned" about the impact of the data breach on Latitude customers.
"We are investigating how a breach of this size could occur," he said.
"Latitude customers deserve to understand their legal rights and the steps that have been taken to protect their personal data."
The scale of the hack has grown dramatically since it was first revealed on March 16.
Initially, Latitude said the hack had only affected 330,000 customers.
Of the 7.9 million driver's licence numbers stolen, around 60 per cent were from customers who had handed over that personal information more than a decade ago.
Latitude said some of the personal records affected were "at least" as old as 2005.
Other records taken in the hack include identity photographs, names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth.
More than 53,000 passport numbers were also siphoned off by hackers.
Naughton said his firm's investigation will examine the circumstances surrounding the breach, including the effectiveness of Latitude's security measures and protocols.
Ahmed Fahour, CEO of finance firm Latitude, is soon leaving the top job. (Nine)Gordon Legal's team, which has executed civil action on issues such as Robodebt and wage theft, said it will also be looking into whether the company took appropriate steps to protect its customers' personal information.
Major recent cyberattacks of Optus and Medibank have exposed little-known sides of business practices, including the retention of personal records for decades.
Data breaches are estimated to be an annual $20-30 billion underworld industry.
Latitude Financial is working with police and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
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