Latest news with #Dymocks
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- Business
- The Advertiser
Direct route for scammers as Qantas hack scale revealed
Scammers could have a direct route to devising targeted scams for millions of Qantas customers in coming months as the airline reveals exactly what personal data was exposed in a major cyber attack. Australia's largest airline on Wednesday disclosed details of the 5.7 million customer records impacted when a third-party system used by an offshore call centre was hacked. Of those, the names, email addresses and frequent flyer details of four million customers were exposed. The remaining 1.7 million customers had more data taken, including their names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, personal or business addresses, gender and meal preferences. In total, about 10,000 meal preferences were accessed. A cybersecurity expert warned compromising such personal information was a "good starting point" for scammers to target individuals. "I see this as stage one of the continuous Qantas situation," RMIT University's Matthew Warren told AAP. Scam attempts would likely start with people impersonating Qantas staff in the weeks and months to come as criminals tried to gain financial or passport details, he said But the attempts could become more targeted from there, including business invoice scams, especially if the information was distributed widely on the dark web. Qantas maintains there is no evidence so far any stolen personal data has been released. Professor Warren said it was only a matter of time before the hackers published the data but they would likely try to hold Qantas to ransom first. "If the data is then sold on the dark net, you're then going to get other groups spending a lot more time trawling through the data and trying to identify possible ways to undertake scams," he said. Qantas has begun individually notifying almost six million customers which of their specific personal details have been exposed in the attack. The airline previously said a possible cybercriminal had contacted it about the hack, but would not confirm whether a ransom demand had been received. Australian Federal Police investigators are also probing the breach. Sydney-based customer Nick Allison received an email on Wednesday morning notifying him that his name, frequent flyer number and tier were exposed in the cyber raid. Mr Allison, who was also embroiled in the 2022 Optus and 2023 Dymocks hacks, is worried about a rise in phishing attempts as a result of his data being exposed. "Is it going to be every single email that I get sent for the rest of my life from Qantas? Is that a scam? Is that real?" he said. "How am I going to know? They've got all that data." Mr Allison said he had lost some trust in Qantas in the wake of the hack. "It makes me very hesitant to give Qantas more information in the future. Is it going to get lost?" he said. As the scam risk grows, customers are being urged to remain alert to emails, text messages or phone calls if the sender purports to be from Qantas. "Regularly review your compromised accounts and other linked accounts for unusual activity," cybersecurity technology firm McAfee's Tyler McGee said. The identity of the group responsible for the attack remains a mystery, although multiple experts believe it is the work of Scattered Spider, a cabal of young cybercriminals living in the US and the UK. Qantas said it had set up extra cybersecurity measures to protect customer data. Scammers could have a direct route to devising targeted scams for millions of Qantas customers in coming months as the airline reveals exactly what personal data was exposed in a major cyber attack. Australia's largest airline on Wednesday disclosed details of the 5.7 million customer records impacted when a third-party system used by an offshore call centre was hacked. Of those, the names, email addresses and frequent flyer details of four million customers were exposed. The remaining 1.7 million customers had more data taken, including their names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, personal or business addresses, gender and meal preferences. In total, about 10,000 meal preferences were accessed. A cybersecurity expert warned compromising such personal information was a "good starting point" for scammers to target individuals. "I see this as stage one of the continuous Qantas situation," RMIT University's Matthew Warren told AAP. Scam attempts would likely start with people impersonating Qantas staff in the weeks and months to come as criminals tried to gain financial or passport details, he said But the attempts could become more targeted from there, including business invoice scams, especially if the information was distributed widely on the dark web. Qantas maintains there is no evidence so far any stolen personal data has been released. Professor Warren said it was only a matter of time before the hackers published the data but they would likely try to hold Qantas to ransom first. "If the data is then sold on the dark net, you're then going to get other groups spending a lot more time trawling through the data and trying to identify possible ways to undertake scams," he said. Qantas has begun individually notifying almost six million customers which of their specific personal details have been exposed in the attack. The airline previously said a possible cybercriminal had contacted it about the hack, but would not confirm whether a ransom demand had been received. Australian Federal Police investigators are also probing the breach. Sydney-based customer Nick Allison received an email on Wednesday morning notifying him that his name, frequent flyer number and tier were exposed in the cyber raid. Mr Allison, who was also embroiled in the 2022 Optus and 2023 Dymocks hacks, is worried about a rise in phishing attempts as a result of his data being exposed. "Is it going to be every single email that I get sent for the rest of my life from Qantas? Is that a scam? Is that real?" he said. "How am I going to know? They've got all that data." Mr Allison said he had lost some trust in Qantas in the wake of the hack. "It makes me very hesitant to give Qantas more information in the future. Is it going to get lost?" he said. As the scam risk grows, customers are being urged to remain alert to emails, text messages or phone calls if the sender purports to be from Qantas. "Regularly review your compromised accounts and other linked accounts for unusual activity," cybersecurity technology firm McAfee's Tyler McGee said. The identity of the group responsible for the attack remains a mystery, although multiple experts believe it is the work of Scattered Spider, a cabal of young cybercriminals living in the US and the UK. Qantas said it had set up extra cybersecurity measures to protect customer data. Scammers could have a direct route to devising targeted scams for millions of Qantas customers in coming months as the airline reveals exactly what personal data was exposed in a major cyber attack. Australia's largest airline on Wednesday disclosed details of the 5.7 million customer records impacted when a third-party system used by an offshore call centre was hacked. Of those, the names, email addresses and frequent flyer details of four million customers were exposed. The remaining 1.7 million customers had more data taken, including their names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, personal or business addresses, gender and meal preferences. In total, about 10,000 meal preferences were accessed. A cybersecurity expert warned compromising such personal information was a "good starting point" for scammers to target individuals. "I see this as stage one of the continuous Qantas situation," RMIT University's Matthew Warren told AAP. Scam attempts would likely start with people impersonating Qantas staff in the weeks and months to come as criminals tried to gain financial or passport details, he said But the attempts could become more targeted from there, including business invoice scams, especially if the information was distributed widely on the dark web. Qantas maintains there is no evidence so far any stolen personal data has been released. Professor Warren said it was only a matter of time before the hackers published the data but they would likely try to hold Qantas to ransom first. "If the data is then sold on the dark net, you're then going to get other groups spending a lot more time trawling through the data and trying to identify possible ways to undertake scams," he said. Qantas has begun individually notifying almost six million customers which of their specific personal details have been exposed in the attack. The airline previously said a possible cybercriminal had contacted it about the hack, but would not confirm whether a ransom demand had been received. Australian Federal Police investigators are also probing the breach. Sydney-based customer Nick Allison received an email on Wednesday morning notifying him that his name, frequent flyer number and tier were exposed in the cyber raid. Mr Allison, who was also embroiled in the 2022 Optus and 2023 Dymocks hacks, is worried about a rise in phishing attempts as a result of his data being exposed. "Is it going to be every single email that I get sent for the rest of my life from Qantas? Is that a scam? Is that real?" he said. "How am I going to know? They've got all that data." Mr Allison said he had lost some trust in Qantas in the wake of the hack. "It makes me very hesitant to give Qantas more information in the future. Is it going to get lost?" he said. As the scam risk grows, customers are being urged to remain alert to emails, text messages or phone calls if the sender purports to be from Qantas. "Regularly review your compromised accounts and other linked accounts for unusual activity," cybersecurity technology firm McAfee's Tyler McGee said. The identity of the group responsible for the attack remains a mystery, although multiple experts believe it is the work of Scattered Spider, a cabal of young cybercriminals living in the US and the UK. Qantas said it had set up extra cybersecurity measures to protect customer data. Scammers could have a direct route to devising targeted scams for millions of Qantas customers in coming months as the airline reveals exactly what personal data was exposed in a major cyber attack. Australia's largest airline on Wednesday disclosed details of the 5.7 million customer records impacted when a third-party system used by an offshore call centre was hacked. Of those, the names, email addresses and frequent flyer details of four million customers were exposed. The remaining 1.7 million customers had more data taken, including their names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, personal or business addresses, gender and meal preferences. In total, about 10,000 meal preferences were accessed. A cybersecurity expert warned compromising such personal information was a "good starting point" for scammers to target individuals. "I see this as stage one of the continuous Qantas situation," RMIT University's Matthew Warren told AAP. Scam attempts would likely start with people impersonating Qantas staff in the weeks and months to come as criminals tried to gain financial or passport details, he said But the attempts could become more targeted from there, including business invoice scams, especially if the information was distributed widely on the dark web. Qantas maintains there is no evidence so far any stolen personal data has been released. Professor Warren said it was only a matter of time before the hackers published the data but they would likely try to hold Qantas to ransom first. "If the data is then sold on the dark net, you're then going to get other groups spending a lot more time trawling through the data and trying to identify possible ways to undertake scams," he said. Qantas has begun individually notifying almost six million customers which of their specific personal details have been exposed in the attack. The airline previously said a possible cybercriminal had contacted it about the hack, but would not confirm whether a ransom demand had been received. Australian Federal Police investigators are also probing the breach. Sydney-based customer Nick Allison received an email on Wednesday morning notifying him that his name, frequent flyer number and tier were exposed in the cyber raid. Mr Allison, who was also embroiled in the 2022 Optus and 2023 Dymocks hacks, is worried about a rise in phishing attempts as a result of his data being exposed. "Is it going to be every single email that I get sent for the rest of my life from Qantas? Is that a scam? Is that real?" he said. "How am I going to know? They've got all that data." Mr Allison said he had lost some trust in Qantas in the wake of the hack. "It makes me very hesitant to give Qantas more information in the future. Is it going to get lost?" he said. As the scam risk grows, customers are being urged to remain alert to emails, text messages or phone calls if the sender purports to be from Qantas. "Regularly review your compromised accounts and other linked accounts for unusual activity," cybersecurity technology firm McAfee's Tyler McGee said. The identity of the group responsible for the attack remains a mystery, although multiple experts believe it is the work of Scattered Spider, a cabal of young cybercriminals living in the US and the UK. Qantas said it had set up extra cybersecurity measures to protect customer data.
Sydney Morning Herald
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘You're screwed', QBD's boss was told. Now he's on track to open 100th bookstore
'[Being] in a shopping centre, I think, gives us an opportunity for [customers] to come and spend 10 minutes with us, and then, if you deliver a great experience, get them to come back,' said Croydon, who is also the author of children's book series The Hyde Park Squirrels, and the coming spy thriller The Turing Protocol. The other great boon for the business has been the rise in the romantasy genre, a combination of romance and fantasy that has exploded in popularity thanks to social media influencers and the success of the wildly popular A Court of Thorns and Roses and Empyrean series. The author of the former, Sarah J. Maas, has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Loading 'It's been going on for a good 18 months now, but it's strong and a lot of my team members love it,' said Croydon. 'You go into that section, it will be perfectly merchandised because they love that section.' The genre makes up 12 per cent of sales in the industry; at QBD, it's more than 20 per cent. Croydon said the love for the genre was so strong that QBD customers were buying duplicates of their favourite books – one to read, and one to display. 'It's almost like a collectible, which is great news for brick-and-mortar retailers like me,' said Croydon. 'The public are investing, still, in paper, which is great to see.' Women in their early 20s represent one of QBD's biggest customer bases, many of whom have flocked to the new genre. The other key groups are young mothers and middle-aged men. Prices at QBD are generally lower than other book retailers such as Dymocks and Harry Hartog, but Croydon steers clear of the 'discount store' label, as he wants the brand to be defined by the customer experience. 'It's not about the price. We make our pricing decisions, and our decision is to be competitive,' says Croydon. 'We want to surprise our customers … they come into a store like ours when they're expecting to get a decent price, but then they get the same if not better service than they would in a high-end store.' According to IBISWorld, the biggest pressure point on book retailers such as QBD and Dymocks is 'persistent competition from external retailers, including discount department stores and online-only platforms,' which limits the market share brick-and-mortar chains can maintain by selling books at wholesale price. Loading To maintain QBD's market position, the company has rolled out new training programs for staff in an attempt to encourage conversation and recommendations from booksellers to customers. They've also recently invested in a customer tracking system through Kepler Analytics — which anonymously tracks customers' mobile phones to provide data on how many visitors are purchasing and time spent in store. QBD was awarded book retailer of the year at this year's Australian Book Industry Awards.
The Age
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘You're screwed', QBD's boss was told. Now he's on track to open 100th bookstore
'[Being] in a shopping centre, I think, gives us an opportunity for [customers] to come and spend 10 minutes with us, and then, if you deliver a great experience, get them to come back,' said Croydon, who is also the author of children's book series The Hyde Park Squirrels, and the coming spy thriller The Turing Protocol. The other great boon for the business has been the rise in the romantasy genre, a combination of romance and fantasy that has exploded in popularity thanks to social media influencers and the success of the wildly popular A Court of Thorns and Roses and Empyrean series. The author of the former, Sarah J. Maas, has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Loading 'It's been going on for a good 18 months now, but it's strong and a lot of my team members love it,' said Croydon. 'You go into that section, it will be perfectly merchandised because they love that section.' The genre makes up 12 per cent of sales in the industry; at QBD, it's more than 20 per cent. Croydon said the love for the genre was so strong that QBD customers were buying duplicates of their favourite books – one to read, and one to display. 'It's almost like a collectible, which is great news for brick-and-mortar retailers like me,' said Croydon. 'The public are investing, still, in paper, which is great to see.' Women in their early 20s represent one of QBD's biggest customer bases, many of whom have flocked to the new genre. The other key groups are young mothers and middle-aged men. Prices at QBD are generally lower than other book retailers such as Dymocks and Harry Hartog, but Croydon steers clear of the 'discount store' label, as he wants the brand to be defined by the customer experience. 'It's not about the price. We make our pricing decisions, and our decision is to be competitive,' says Croydon. 'We want to surprise our customers … they come into a store like ours when they're expecting to get a decent price, but then they get the same if not better service than they would in a high-end store.' According to IBISWorld, the biggest pressure point on book retailers such as QBD and Dymocks is 'persistent competition from external retailers, including discount department stores and online-only platforms,' which limits the market share brick-and-mortar chains can maintain by selling books at wholesale price. Loading To maintain QBD's market position, the company has rolled out new training programs for staff in an attempt to encourage conversation and recommendations from booksellers to customers. They've also recently invested in a customer tracking system through Kepler Analytics — which anonymously tracks customers' mobile phones to provide data on how many visitors are purchasing and time spent in store. QBD was awarded book retailer of the year at this year's Australian Book Industry Awards.
