Qantas-Hack: Millions of customer data may be stolen

Qantas-Hack: Millions of customer data may be stolen

The Australian airline Qantas announced that a data cut on Monday disclosed personal information from six million customers and expects the amount of stolen data to be "significant".

Details on the hacker attack

The hack penetrated into an external customer service platform used by a Qantas call center. In a message, the airline explained that the platform stores information about six million customers, including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth data and frequent flyer numbers.

important security information

Qantas made it clear that no customer data on credit cards, financial information or passports are stored on the platform. After the company discovered "unusual activities" on the platform, measures were immediately taken to "contain" the system. It is emphasized that all of Qantanten systems are now safe and there are no effects on the operating processes or the security of the company.

reactions and measures

How much data was stolen is still unclear, "we expect it to be significant," said the airline. Qantas is now working on supporting affected customers and cooperating with the Australian Cyber ​​Security Center, the Australian Federal Police and independent cyber security experts in the investigation.

Vanessa Hudson, the CEO of Qantas, sincerely apologized to the customers in the communication: "We recognize the uncertainty that will cause. Our customers entrust our personal information and we take this responsibility seriously." She added: "We contact our customers today, and our focus is on offering them the necessary support."

effects on the market

The qanta's share prices fell by 3.5 % in the morning, while the wider market only increased by 0.4 %, according to Reuters .

growing threats to cyber security in Australia

Australia has experienced a number of important cyber attacks and hacking incidents in recent years. In 2019, a cyber attack aimed at the governing and oppositional parties in Australia, less than three months before a national election.

In 2021 the broadcaster Nine News Cyber ​​attack on a media company in the history of Australia.

The recent incident occurred in 2022 when cybercriminals from Russia a ransomware Medibank , carried out one of the largest private health insurers of Australia. Sensitive personal data, including information on health claims, were stolen from 9.7 million customers, with part of this data being published in the Darknet.

Last year called Australia and imposed sanctions that are supposedly on the attack was involved. He was considered a alleged member of the Russian ransomware group Revil had started before the Russian authorities took 2022 measures and arrested several people.