Australia’s flagship provider says it believes a ‘important’ quantity of non-public information was stolen in a cyberattack.
Qantas is investigating a serious cyberattack after hackers accessed a system holding private information belonging to six million clients, Australia’s flagship airline has mentioned.
Qantas took “quick steps” to safe its programs after detecting “uncommon exercise” on a third-party platform on Monday, the airline mentioned on Wednesday.
The airline is investigating the quantity of knowledge that was stolen, however it expects that it will likely be “important”, Qantas mentioned in an announcement.
The affected information contains clients’ names, e-mail addresses, cellphone numbers, beginning dates and frequent flyer numbers, however not bank card particulars, private monetary data or passport particulars, in response to the airline.
Qantas mentioned it had put extra safety measures in place, and notified the police, the Australian Cyber Safety Centre and the Workplace of the Australian Info Commissioner.
Qantas Group Chief Government Officer Vanessa Hudson provided an apology to clients over the breach.
“Our clients belief us with their private data and we take that accountability critically,” Hudson mentioned.
“We’re contacting our clients immediately and our focus is on offering them with the mandatory help.”
The info breach comes as Qantas is working to rebuild its popularity following a collection of controversies in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with revelations that it bought tickets for 1000’s of cancelled flights and lobbied in opposition to a bid by Qatar Airways to function extra flights to Europe.
Qantas earned its lowest-ever spot in final yr’s World Airline Awards by Skytrax, falling from seventeenth to twenty fourth place, earlier than climbing 10 spots within the 2025 rating.
Hudson’s predecessor, Alan Joyce, stepped down two months forward of his scheduled retirement in 2023, whereas acknowledging the necessity for the airline “to maneuver forward with its renewal as a precedence”.
Final week, the FBI in america mentioned {that a} cybercriminal group often called Scattered Spider had expanded its targets to incorporate airways.
The FBI mentioned the hacking group typically impersonates staff or contractors to deploy ransomware and steal delicate information for extortion functions.
