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back to article Possible Lizard Squad members claim hack of Oz travel insurer

Nearly 900,000 client records including names, addresses, and phone numbers have been stolen from travel insurer Aussie Travel Cover by a suspected member of the Lizard Squad hacking crew. The hacker released databases including those detailing customer policies and travel dates along with a list of partial credit card …

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  1. Crazy Operations Guy

    People still buy travel insurance?

    I'd thought that independent Travel Insurance had gone the way of Travel Agent once all the major credit card players started offering it for free on the Airline-branded and other loyalty cards... Not to mention that a lot of Insurance companies also offer this as part of their standard packages.

    0 3 Reply
    1. Adam 1
      Reply Icon

      Re: People still buy travel insurance?

      Mostly to get you first world (or as close as available nearby) hospital cover if you fall ill or get injured abroad. Some injuries have long recovery times and prevent you travelling home on your cattle class tickets.

      1 0 Reply
    2. jjcoolaus
      Reply Icon

      Re: People still buy travel insurance?

      If you can't afford to buy travel insurance you can't afford to travel, especially these days.

      The following events, which can happen to anyone, are all covered by a DECENT travel insurance policy:

      - terrorist attack or rebel siege at your hotel, on your airport, etc

      - planes running late or schedules otherwise changing

      - extra nights in hotels due to planes running late

      - medical emergencies such as heart attack, stroke, etc - stays in hospitals anywhere in the world are expensive

      - vehicle & pedestrian accidents (though if you were driving the vehicle, you might not be covered)

      - having to cancel a whole or part of a holiday because of drama at home, because you got sick, because you got injured before your trip and several other circumstances.

      In short, if you DON'T have travel insurance, your a dead set idiot and I will be PMSL when I hear on the news that an aussie traveller is stuck in Thailand or US or wherever with a $40k hotel bill and no way to pay.

      2 3 Reply
      1. Mark 65
        Reply Icon

        Re: People still buy travel insurance?

        As stated previously, a lot of credit cards provide travel insurance when said travel is booked in whole or in part using the card.

        0 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: People still buy travel insurance?

          lot of credit cards provide travel insurance when said travel is booked in whole or in part using the card.

          It can be pretty basic cover, though, really just limited to reimbursement of what you paid out. My wife's Air France AmEx card pays 100 euros + hotel for a late or cancelled flight (Air France only), and only if she doesn't get anything from Air France. Given that EU rules require the airline to pay, and usually more than 100 euros, the guarantee on the card is pretty pointless. AmEx will also generously advance the money necessary to pay medical bills, but clearly expect you to have other means to pay it back. That may be OK in Europe where your health service will pay up, but I wouldn't go to the US without at least $1m, and preferably $5m, in medical cover. I've not seen any credit cards that offer that.

          Check the small print carefully before accepting that "my card has free travel insurance". A real annual policy is usually not expensive, and gives much better cover.

          4 0 Reply
      2. John Tserkezis
        Reply Icon

        Re: People still buy travel insurance?

        "In short, if you DON'T have travel insurance, your a dead set idiot and I will be PMSL when I hear on the news that an aussie traveller is stuck in Thailand or US or wherever with a $40k hotel bill and no way to pay."

        Downvote for you - you take your health for granted.

        Pray to whatever diety you or anyone in your travelling party doesn't have one of a number of health conditions some insurance agents won't cover for. Some bastards go even so far as saying "if you or anyone in your travelling party has condition [X], you will not be covered". (Yep, actually read that in black and white!) Don't like that? Screw you, it's legal and in the fine print. (Seen that in an Queensland travel insurance agent's fine print).

        In some cases, for certain conditions, any insurance will cover you for some obscene premium like $8K a pop. (A number of family friends came across this) I'm guessing you'll probably go without too.

        I would go so far as handling insurance at least two months before you go (in some cases it'll take about a month of paperwork to handle it), make sure you're healthy (screw you if you're not), and again, for whatever diety you believe in, MAKE SURE YOU READ THE FINE PRINT.

        2 1 Reply
  2. Jonbays

    Mandatory Breach Reporting Laws need enacting in Australia

    Data Breach's like this where nothing is done to assist or help the victims really do go to show you can't trust business to protect its customers data and government need to step in with simple clear legislation requiring prompt disclosure to allow people to take protective action and or $M fines for multiple breach's or late or no disclosure. This will force organisations to essentially do the right thing for their own financial benefit as they clearly won't do it to protect their customers.

    4 0 Reply
  3. Mark 85

    It's also being pitched heavily here in the States in places.

    Think about the air crashes recently, ferry fires, Costa Concordia. The agents are doing very well from referrals by travel agents (who get a cut also). We had one (travel agent) recently who hard sold it. We didn't buy it, nor did we buy our tickets from that travel agency.

    1 3 Reply
  4. Mystic Megabyte
    Unhappy

    Small print

    In my experience *all* insurance is useless. They all have a clause somewhere that invalidates your claim. Maybe I'm just unlucky, don't travel with me :(

    0 1 Reply
  5. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Facepalm

    SQLi? Skiddie.

    <Yawn> It's a bit like a mugger bragging about using someone else's club to mug grannies with.

    1 0 Reply

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