Cashless society

[JohnDe]

Yeah, a digital monetary system is safe. NOT

After an initial investigation by a specialist third party forensic cyber specialist, Total Tools is understood to have estimated that customer data linked to 38,000 of its shoppers has been illegally compromised.​

​

The compromised data includes names, email addresses, credit card data and log-in details. Total Tools, through its owner Metcash, has alerted the government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre.​

Tradies at risk as Total Tools hit with a data leak

Hardware chain Total Tools has suffered a major data leak that is believed to have impacted 38,000 customers covering credit card numbers, email addresses and log-in details, in an act likely committed by professional cyber hackers.

Total Tools, owned by Metcash, has been working on the data leak for a number of days after it first discovered unusual and suspicious activity within its IT systems, The Australian can reveal, and is still investigating the true size and scope of the data leak.

After an initial investigation by a specialist third party forensic cyber specialist, Total Tools is understood to have estimated that customer data linked to 38,000 of its shoppers has been illegally compromised.

The compromised data includes names, email addresses, credit card data and log-in details. Total Tools, through its owner Metcash, has alerted the government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre.

It is believed Total Tools will soon contact its customers altering them to the data breach. Earlier on Thursday, Total Tools’s website was momentarily shut down due to a technical error over the updating of prices, but this had nothing to do the with the data leak.

The hardware chain is run by Richard Murray, the former chief executive of JB Hi-Fi and boss of billionaire Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments’ retail arm.

The company is the latest Australian business to have sensitive data taken in a cyber breach.

In late 2022 publicly-listed health insurer Medibank’s market value collapsed by $1.7bn as hackers linked to an online Russian criminal forum threatened to expose the health records and other sensitive information of millions of Australians.

Eventually the cyber attack, which saw the records of 10 million customers compromised, cost Medibank more than $30m and regulator APRA forced the insurer to set aside a capital adequacy requirement of $250m after “weaknesses” were identified in its IT infrastructure.

Telco Optus was another high-profile victim of data leaks and was later hit with legal action from the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which argued the carrier breached the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. It was later reported in The Australian that data breach cost Optus as much as $140m.

This year about half of Australia’s population was impacted by a cyberattack on MediSecure, an Australian healthcare information service that provides electronic prescriptions and a prescription monitoring service.

Other Australian corporations that suffered data leaks and cyber attacks in recent years included tech company Canva, financial services company Latitude as well as a number of universities and health services.

 

[wayneL]

Yeah, a digital monetary system is safe. NOT

After an initial investigation by a specialist third party forensic cyber specialist, Total Tools is understood to have estimated that customer data linked to 38,000 of its shoppers has been illegally compromised.​

​

The compromised data includes names, email addresses, credit card data and log-in details. Total Tools, through its owner Metcash, has alerted the government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre.​

Yay, cashless!

 

[farmerge]

Yeah, a digital monetary system is safe. NOT

After an initial investigation by a specialist third party forensic cyber specialist, Total Tools is understood to have estimated that customer data linked to 38,000 of its shoppers has been illegally compromised.​

​

The compromised data includes names, email addresses, credit card data and log-in details. Total Tools, through its owner Metcash, has alerted the government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre.​

I use Total Tools some of the time. Perhaps I should PANIC !!!!

 

[Bellcose]

I use Total Tools some of the time. Perhaps I should PANIC !!!!

Bloody slack of Metcash to not up its game and ensure customer data is secure. The Australian Signals Directorate and other bodies have been telling companies for a few years cybersecurity is part of their business and to consider it in that light. It's an issue for SMBs who may have say 200 employees or less and don't have in-house expertise.

 

[Value Collector]

The total tools breach has nothing to do with digital payments, its breach was of customer data that it stored on file, regardless of method of payment, if you were a member your details have been leaked.

You can purchase goods and services without signing up to all these loyalty programs that store your data.

 

[JohnDe]

Bloody slack of Metcash to not up its game and ensure customer data is secure. The Australian Signals Directorate and other bodies have been telling companies for a few years cybersecurity is part of their business and to consider it in that light. It's an issue for SMBs who may have say 200 employees or less and don't have in-house expertise.

The problem is that having a digital system is like being on a war footing 24/7. Software providers are constantly writing updates to patch security flaws that are being found by criminals and deluded people trying to find a way into the systems of governments, utilities, businesses and consumers.

There has been hacking since the invention of computers, and every year since we have heard from the likes of Microsoft and co that their new system will put an end to it.

Remember what happened a few months ago? AN OUTRAGE has hit computers around the world, affecting airlines, hospitals, retailers and other businesses. So how did that happen?

What caused such a widespread tech meltdown?

AN OUTRAGE has hit computers around the world, affecting airlines, hospitals, retailers and other businesses. So how did that happen? Read more at The Business Times.

www.businesstimes.com.sg

 

[Bellcose]

The problem is that having a digital system is like being on a war footing 24/7. Software providers are constantly writing updates to patch security flaws that are being found by criminals and deluded people trying to find a way into the systems of governments, utilities, businesses and consumers.

While that may be true, if I live a thousand kms from the store from which I want to purchase an item, I'm not going to get on a plane and travel just to pay cash. Buy local goes the cry. Not when the item I want is around $300 less expensive than the local store for exactly the same product. Nor am I going to create an account and have my details kept just make a one-off payment.

As for the CrowdStrike (?) outage, sure I remember it. Didn't impact me one bit and was mostly resolved in a day apparently. Others may have been shedding a few tears though.

 

[JohnDe]

While that may be true, if I live a thousand kms from the store from which I want to purchase an item, I'm not going to get on a plane and travel just to pay cash. Buy local goes the cry. Not when the item I want is around $300 less expensive than the local store for exactly the same product. Nor am I going to create an account and have my details kept just make a one-off payment.

As for the CrowdStrike (?) outage, sure I remember it. Didn't impact me one bit and was mostly resolved in a day apparently. Others may have been shedding a few tears though.

What are you talking about, planes and $300 discount? Sorry but you lost me there.

As for creating an account, Total Tools have clients that are businesses. Which set up accounts because the regularly purchase, and those businesses may have employees collecting merchandise which is prepaid by the credit card details set up in the system. Get it? A cashless system.

I agree with you on the outage, it didn’t affect me either. The two store I went to on the day lost their EFTPOS function but they accepted my cash

 

[Bellcose]

What are you talking about, planes and $300 discount? Sorry but you lost me there.

As for creating an account, Total Tools have clients that are businesses. Which set up accounts because the regularly purchase, and those businesses may have employees collecting merchandise which is prepaid by the credit card details set up in the system. Get it? A cashless system.

I agree with you on the outage, it didn’t affect me either. The two store I went to on the day lost their EFTPOS function but they accepted my cash

I cannot help your understanding if you don't understand.

You can gather as many clouds as you like to yell at but business will not be going back to manual ledgers and quills. It's simply not going to happen.

 

[JohnDe]

You can gather as many clouds as you like to yell at but business will not be going back to manual ledgers and quills. It's simply not going to happen.

Yes Value Collector, the digital cashless system uses cloud computing and technology.

And as I said not long ago in post #2020


You are correct.

Using my business as an example -

It costs nothing to accept a cash payment, there are no bank fees, and we do not add any handling charges. The money is counted during normal business hours when there is a quiet period, and banking is done when I or someone else has other chores to do, taking advantage of a break away from the hectic business cycle.

On the other hand, is the cashless system. the bank charges the business different fees for different cards, and a fee for the EFTPOS facility. The bank also charges the customer a fee, either for the transaction or for the service. On top of that the business has an ongoing cost of thermal paper roles, electricity, and back up services such as a UPS (backup power supply), and so on.

A $50 note does not lose any of its value other than from inflation, businesses and banks do not snip a piece of the note each time it is handled.

A $50 cashless transaction will lose the customer a few cents every time it goes around the economy. A customer pays by eftpos and a charge is added, the business uses that to pay for an expense and another charge is added, and round it goes.

I am sure that one day, when very few people use cash, businesses will be forced to add a charge. But for now, and for small to medium business, cash costs less to handle than electronic funds.

Payment Costs in Australia Cash appears to be the lowest cost payment method for the small transaction sizes for which it is commonly used. An important cost advantage is that cash payments are quicker to process than other payment methods. The cost of a cash payment rises with the value of the transaction so that cash becomes more costly than EFTPOS for payments of moderate value.

The financial institutions and some businesses especially large corporations are fleecing everyone, and the blind are being sold sunglasses.

Card surcharges

Payments the ban applies to​

This ban on excessive payment surcharges applies to:

• Eftpos: debit and prepaid
• MasterCard: credit, debit and prepaid
• Visa: credit, debit and prepaid.

Payments the ban doesn't apply to​

The ban doesn't apply to:

• BPAY
• PayPal
• Diners Club
• American Express cards issued directly by American Express
• taxi fares, whatever the payment type.

 

[Value Collector]

John, even if you paid cash at Total tools, if you were a member your details are at risk, how ever if you used cashless and didn’t have a membership, your details aren’t at risk.

It’s not the payment method that put you at risk, it’s whether you allowed the business to have your details on file.

 

[divs4ever]

now IF a EU v. Russia it is in neither sides interest to use conventional nuclear weapons
HOWEVER .. EMP weapons ( killing electronic infrastructure ) would make a LOT of sense , as would biological warfare

but the EU seem to have cultivated a very special class of stupid

besides if Russia wanted to use nuclear as a weapon it would simply stop exporting uranium to Europe and let rising prices do the rest

 

[Bellcose]

John, even if you paid cash at Total tools, if you were a member your details are at risk, how ever if you used cashless and didn’t have a membership, your details aren’t at risk.

It’s not the payment method that put you at risk, it’s whether you allowed the business to have your details on file.

I think it's the same principle of securing customer data. Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, all were deficient in that regard. The other aspect, which would apply to Total Tools/Metchash, is dormant accounts. It raises the question of cleaning obsolete data. That costs money and I suspect a number of companies are reluctant to do it which implies they are, at core, slack at securing necessary customer data.

As for cash, it won't disappear but in some areas it may not help you get the services you want or need. In this large country town, and that is what Canberra actually is, the majority of GP, specialist and diagnostic clinics as well as dental providers don't accept either cash or cheques. For private radiotherapy units, cash and cheques are a big no, no considering a patient has to pay upfront each week and the cost is approximately $5k per week. Even the motor mechanic I use insists on EFTPOS now - Only four of us here, we're too busy and haven't got time to go to a bank.

I feel cash is OK depending on the situation but not across the board. It's probably dependant on the circumstances applicable at the time and the reluctance of companies to deal with large amounts of cash.

It's interesting a couple of banks are imposing a penalty on having cash at call in accounts by paying either a pittance or zero interest. Of course people can move their funds elsewhere but the amorphous financial institution is thinking, thank god that loss making account holder is gone.

 

[Value Collector]

I think it's the same principle of securing customer data. Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, all were deficient in that regard. The other aspect, which would apply to Total Tools/Metchash, is dormant accounts. It raises the question of cleaning obsolete data. That costs money and I suspect a number of companies are reluctant to do it which implies they are, at core, slack at securing necessary customer data.

As for cash, it won't disappear but in some areas it may not help you get the services you want or need. In this large country town, and that is what Canberra actually is, the majority of GP, specialist and diagnostic clinics as well as dental providers don't accept either cash or cheques. For private radiotherapy units, cash and cheques are a big no, no considering a patient has to pay upfront each week and the cost is approximately $5k per week. Even the motor mechanic I use insists on EFTPOS now - Only four of us here, we're too busy and haven't got time to go to a bank.

I feel cash is OK depending on the situation but not across the board. It's probably dependant on the circumstances applicable at the time and the reluctance of companies to deal with large amounts of cash.

It's interesting a couple of banks are imposing a penalty on having cash at call in accounts by paying either a pittance or zero interest. Of course people can move their funds elsewhere but the amorphous financial institution is thinking, thank god that loss making account holder is gone.

My point is simply that in the total tools case it’s not about what the payment method was, as John De claimed.

—————

In regards to “at call cash” it’s not as valuable as cash deposits that are longer term.

If you tell me that you will give me $10k for 5 years, that’s worth something, but if you say you might want it back tomorrow there is little I can do with it, so I can’t pay you much for it. Me not paying you much interest isn’t a penalty it’s just it’s not worth that much to me.

 

[JohnDe]

In the end, who pays for all these financial losses going on in the cashless digital economy?

All consumers of course.

Qantas Frequent Flyer customers caught in major cyber theft as police called​

Nearly 1000 Qantas customers have been caught up in a major cyber theft after an Indian company stole frequent flyer points in a serious breach of the airline company’s IT systems.
The Weekend Australian can reveal two third-party airport contractors in India have been suspended by their employer for inappropriate conduct, which involved accessing and making unauthorised changes to Qantas customer bookings. The contractors worked for Air India SATS, a joint venture between India’s main airline and SATS, which is Singapore’s biggest ground handling company.

The IT scandal only came to light after one Qantas customer in Sydney complained to this writer that her account had been hacked and the airline had failed to take responsibility for the breach.

Qantas said the fraud occurred because it operates flights to India where it uses a ground handling operator. It alleges staff at the local ground handling operator were able to access bookings – unrelated to India flights – and steal passengers’ information.

Qantas has since referred the attack to local Indian police and admitted customer data has been compromised by the unfolding cyber hack.

Qantas alleges the individuals were fraudulently stealing valuable frequent flyer details in their bookings. The frequent flyer theft has hit several airlines, including around 800 Qantas bookings over several weeks.

“We apologise to our customers who have been caught up in this fraudulent activity, which has impacted a number of airlines,” Qantas said in response to questions from The Weekend Australian.

The alleged thieves used booking reference numbers and customer names to steal points. However, other sensitive personal data including passport details and date of birth would have been available on the Amadeus booking system. It is unknown if this information has been mis-used.

Customers caught up in the hack have not been notified by Qantas and the airline has yet to issue a public statement.

The news will be a blow to Qantas on two fronts. The breach has exposed a serious cyber weakness at the airline at a time when new chief executive officer Vanessa Hudson is pouring money and effort into improving customer experience after several mis-steps, including the ghost flights scandal.

Qantas said that changes to customer details were made using other airlines’ booking systems, adding it had worked with these partner airlines to lock down system vulnerabilities.

“As soon as we became aware of this, we worked closely with our airline partners to secure their systems to prevent this issue from happening again. Customers have received the full amount of points and status credits they were entitled to for their travel.”

And yet it is clear that some – if not all Qantas customers impacted – have not been made unaware by the airline that personal data has been illegally accessed.

When Caitlin* and her husband went to check in for a $20,000-plus business class flight to London this August, the night before their flight they were concerned to discover their bookings were not showing up in the Qantas app. The booking was made through Qantas and did not involve flights with any other airlines.

“My first thought was there was a hacking event at Qantas,” Caitlin said.

It turned out her bookings were still in the system, but the frequent flyer numbers had been changed, which is why the booking did not show up on her Qantas app.

After a frantic phone call on the day of travel with a Qantas offshore call centre; “the women I spoke to tried to question whether we had somehow just created brand new frequent flyer numbers,” Caitlin was finally put through to someone in Australia who fixed the problem.

She and her husband boarded their long-haul flights that day.

They had been hacked.

Privately, after Caitlin asked Qantas customer service to find out what had happened, she was told it was likely because she had either clicked on a malware link or that there was a cyber breach at airline alliance Oneworld.

Neither explanation was correct.

She is still to be told by the airline that her details had been scooped up illegally.

The last time Qantas confessed about a breach was in May when the airline said a “technical issue” with its app was responsible for customers being able to see the booking details of others when they logged in.

The airline was quick to shut down fears this was a malicious cyber breach, saying back then that there was “no evidence” of a cyber incident and it was instead just a problem with its homepage.

The biggest cyber event to hit aviation was the global outage caused by CrowdStrike in July. More than 110,000 flights were cancelled on the day the problem occurred, up from 2000 the day before the event according to data from Cirium.

While all companies can experience cyber attacks, this scandal shows that the company still has issues with offshore customer service call centres. This division of Qantas was in the spotlight two years ago when customers were forced to wait for up to ten hours to speak to an agent.

It also shines the light on how much private data Qantas shares with third parties as a course of business. Qantas said it would continue to work with Air India SATS but now has stricter protocols for the ground handler.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

In the end, who pays for all these financial losses going on in the cashless digital economy?

All consumers of course.

"two third-party airport contractors in India"

... who'd have thought?!

 

[Value Collector]

I went to a new barber, he was cash only out of the 3 customers I saw, two had to leave the shop obtain cash, and I had to use my emergency $50 so now have to make a special trip to an ATM, not the best way to treat customers in my opinion.

I probably won’t be going back, there are other places to get a hair cut that don’t require me making special trips to obtain cash, just so they can probably defraud the tax system.

 

[divs4ever]

24 Hour Self Service Butcher Shop In Australia



see on Bitchute ( link doesn't translate on ASF

NSW Butcher Opens Australia's First 24/7 Self-Service Meat Store

<p>Jacob Wolki is a sustainable farmer from regional NSW who owns Australia’s first ever self-service butcher, which is open 24/7 and has gone viral online.</p>

www.wsfm.com.au

 

[moXJO]

24 Hour Self Service Butcher Shop In Australia



see on Bitchute ( link doesn't translate on ASF

NSW Butcher Opens Australia's First 24/7 Self-Service Meat Store

<p>Jacob Wolki is a sustainable farmer from regional NSW who owns Australia’s first ever self-service butcher, which is open 24/7 and has gone viral online.</p>

www.wsfm.com.au

Surprisingly no one stole anything.
Sit across the street with your 100x zoom camera on the door till you get a code. Grab all the meat and exit before cops turn up.

 

[divs4ever]

Surprisingly no one stole anything.
Sit across the street with your 100x zoom camera on the door till you get a code. Grab all the meat and exit before cops turn up.

it might be the 'small town factor ' ( like the police station is 30 metres away ) or each food bay can only be opened ( legally ) with your bank card ... or just a matter of time

gossip says the local gun shop up here was ram-raided by thieves that stole the vehicle from over 100km away ( in Brisbane )`