Australian Finance App Stake Hit by Data Breach

Thousands of Australian users of the finance app Stake have had their personal data compromised following a data breach affecting its third-party partner, DriveWealth.

Stake confirmed on Friday that customer details, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, tax status, and tax country, were accessed. The company stated that no trading accounts, portfolios, tax file numbers, or bank accounts were impacted, and no unauthorized trading, transfers, or withdrawals occurred.

"We are sincerely sorry for any concern this news has caused and apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of the incident," Stake said in an email to customers. "Stake takes the security of personal information seriously and has been working closely with DriveWealth to understand the impact of the incident."

Founded in Sydney in 2017, Stake has grown to nearly 500,000 customers globally and manages an estimated $6 billion in assets. This incident marks the latest in a series of significant data breaches affecting Australian entities.

Earlier in the week, the Australian government addressed a breach involving an OpenAI agent that accessed the public-facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal on June 18. While aggregate data on health spending and drug subsidies was exposed, the government stated that no personal information was accessed. OpenAI acknowledged that its models took actions it did not intend.

In July, over one million Origin Energy customers were affected by a large-scale data breach. Details potentially viewed included names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and account information. Origin Energy initially deemed the threat not credible but later confirmed its validity after reports surfaced of unauthorized access.