Latitude data breach

A data breach by Latitude Financial Services in March 2023 resulted in the driver licence details of some Victorians being compromised. This breach was related to Latitude systems and at no point were Department of Transport and Planning systems compromised.

The Victorian Government has implemented protections for licence holders impacted by the Latitude data breach and Department of Transport and Planning is continuing to contact customers whose licence details were compromised in the breach.

Once the impacted customer data was received from Latitude, Department of Transport and Planning immediately flagged the customer’s driver licence or learner permit details in the Victorian licensing registry as an initial layer of protection.

From mid-February 2024, Department of Transport and Planning will provide an additional layer of protection on impacted Latitude customers' licence records. We will put a validation process in place that will require customers to prove their identity by providing both their licence number and unique card number for essential financial transactions such as opening bank accounts, loan applications, phone contracts and real estate transactions.

Any impacted Latitude customer who has a myVicRoads account does not need to replace their physical licence card, as the unique card number, which wasn’t exposed the data breach, is accessible in their myVicRoads account.

However, should impacted myVicRoads customers wish to replace their physical licence card for the same period the easiest way is through their myVicRoads account.

Impacted customers who don’t have a myVicRoads account, and therefore can’t easily access their unique card number, will be issued with a replacement licence which will feature their unique card number.

A new unique card number is a feature of all new and replacement Victorian driver licences issued from November 2022. Having both a card number and licence number creates two unique data sources that are used to verify licence information. Using the additional card number to verify is much like using a credit card for online transactions.

We take the privacy and security of our customers very seriously and understand any incident involving the unauthorised disclosure of personal information can be stressful.

For further information about the Latitude Financial cyber-attack or how you can protect yourself, please visit: www.latitudefinancial.com.au/latitude-cyber-incident (external link) or www.idcare.org/data-breach-support (external link).

For more information on licence card numbers see Cards and card numbers.