Bendigo Bank faces APRA penalty over Alliance Bank cyber authentication failures
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank admitted failures in online banking authentication after a 2023 cyber incident hit its Alliance Bank unit. APRA found weak password rules, shared passwords across customers and design issues that helped identify valid customer IDs, leading to 286 unauthorised transactions worth about A$490,000 affecting 87 customers. APRA and the bank proposed an A$8m pecuniary penalty, court approval pending, and said affected customers were reimbursed; RACQ Bank customers will transfer to Bendigo subject to regulatory approval.