Data scare hits Sharks

THE CEO of a prominent Gold Coast club has assured its 70,000 past and present members their personal data is safe after the organisation fell victim to a cyber attack in March.

Southport Sharks CEO Dean Bowtell said the club had been affected by a malicious software virus, potentially affecting past and present members prior to March 9, 2018.

“Southport Sharks takes the privacy and security of its data very seriously and wants to be open and transparent about this incident,” Mr Bowtell said.

“While there is no evidence that any personal information was accessed or misused, as a precaution we have informed approximately 70,000 people about this incident so that they can take steps to prevent any potential misuse of their information.”

Mr Bowtell assured email recipients that their credit card details, Tax File Numbers or driver’s license details had not been affected by the incident.