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Listed property valuer LandMark White (ASX: LMW) has been suspended from trading on the ASX following a second data breach of company documents.
This suspension is the second this year for LMW which is attempting to repair its reputation with key banking clients.
Following the second data breach, which was announced at the end of June, clients like Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA), NAB (ASX: NAB), and ANZ (ASX: ANZ) have suspended LMW from receiving their work.
LMW says these suspensions are impacting revenue, profitability and cashflows, hence the voluntary suspension request.
"At this point in time we are unable to ascertain when these clients will reinstate LMW and hence when LMW will be in a position to assess with certainty the financial impact of the disclosure," says LMW.
"LMW will provide the market with further information relating to the impact of the disclosure soon as the position becomes clearer and lift the suspension at that time."
The property valuer only recently emerged from an ASX suspension at the beginning of May, in the wake of a cyber-attack that saw customer information published on the dark web. When the company resumed trading in May LMW revealed that the cost of the first incident would hit the group's revenue by $7 million.
This latest suspension relates to a data breach where company documents were posted to US file sharing platform SCRIBD on Wednesday 29 May 2019 by an individual known to LMW. The valuer first notified the market and clients on the night of 30 May 2019.
LandMark White has refused to characterise the data breach as a cyber-attack, rather suggesting it is "the deliberate acts of a person known to LMW".
"LMW suspects that this person has taken the documents from LMW via a manual process and is attempting to damage LMW's brand and reputation," says LandMark White in an ASX statement.
"There is absolutely no indication that the person is attempting to derive personal gain from the disclosure."
"If the perpetrator is allowed to succeed in their efforts to damage LMW's brand and reputation, this will have implications for the wider valuation industry's viability. Further, if the approach of dumping internal documents on the web successfully damages LMW, its employees and shareholders, it opens an avenue for disgruntled employees of other organisations to do the same. This activity must be deterred, and we thank the wider community for its support to stamp this activity out."
Read More: Are businesses taking the threat of cybercrime seriously?
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