After 24 hours of news and speculation around a potential privacy breach of up to a million people, NSW Police Cybercrime Squad detectives have arrested a 46 year old man in Sydney’s West in relation to the alleged data breach.
Police state that they were alerted to the website setup by someone claiming to be an overseas developer with a grievance against Australian technology company Outabox who provide sign in systems at various registered clubs in NSW.
The website, as we detailed here at EFTM, allowed users to search for their name, and see if their own data was involved in the breach.
Cybercrime detectives worked with both Federal and State agencies to investigate under “Strike Force Division”.
After some great policing in a short period of time, those same detectives executed a search warrant at 4.20pm this afternoon in Fairfield West.
A 46 year old man was arrested and taken to Fairfield Police Station where he is expected to be charged with blackmail.
Commander of the Cybercrime Squad, Detective Acting Superintendent Gillian Lister, said this breach should act as a remind for people to check their personal cyber security.
“Now is the optimal time to make sure your cyber hygiene is good; you have strong passwords and are using two-factor authentication where possible,” Det A/Supt Lister said.
“If you think your details may have been compromised, use extra caution when reviewing emails or texts and never click on a suspicious or unfamiliar link.
“Always make sure to report incidents of cybercrime through the Australian Cyber Security Centre or Scamwatch.”
This arrest casts a huge doubt over the validity of the claims made on the aforementioned website. The case will now go before the courts where we will no doubt learn exactly what went on.
It does appear from the outside looking in, and this is pure speculation, that this is a case of an far more local dispute – someone with an axe to grind with Outabox, especially given they chose to expose the Drivers Licence and Photo of an Outabox Director (Glenn James) on the website.
Outabox won’t be able to do much more than simply wait for the case to play out for their side of the story to be told, and their reputation restored after a very dark 24 hours.
