Now, That’s What We Call A Deal! Catch Of The Day Made Its Way Out Easily

Australia's popular everyday deals website Catch of the Day (COTD) won’t have to pay any penalty for a data breach, reportedly linked to a remarkable size of financial and private information of its customers. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on Tuesday arrived at the decision after an inquiry into the incident, which came to light last year.

While Australian privacy commissioner Timothy Pilgrim was concerned about the size of the breach, the company told him adequate measures have been taken to avoid similar incidents. Hence, "the OAIC does not intend to take any further action in relation to the incident at this time,” he added.

Mr. Pilgrim also suggested the website to "improve its processes for notifying customers of data breach incidents in future", noting concern at "the significant delay between [Catch of the Day] becoming aware of the incident and notifying affected individuals".

With over 2 million users and receiving nearly 15 percent of Australia's retail Internet traffic, the website is definitely quite popular among Australian online shopping enthusiasts.

Wasn’t Taken With A Pinch Of Salt

Both its users and non-users were critical of the website’s handling of the incident as soon as the news came out in June 2014. The company then informed its customers that their personal details, including sensitive credit cards information, had been stolen.

The website knew about its data being compromised back in 2011 but admitted it to the customers through a media statement after over three years. "Catch of the Day acted swiftly at the time to shut down the attack and reported it to the Australian Federal Police, banks and credit card companies, who took action to protect consumers, such as cancelling affected cards," read the statement.

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