Major airline Qantas suffered a cybersecurity incident that exposed up to 6 million customer profiles. The attack comes days after the FBI warned about the notorious “Scattered Spider” group targeting the airline industry. The Australian carrier detected unusual activity on a third-party platform used by its contact center, which holds service records for millions of people.
Qantas confirmed that some customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, and frequent flyer numbers were impacted, but credit card details, personal financial information, and passport details are not held in this system. The airline took immediate action to contain the system and is still investigating how much data was stolen.
The cyberattack comes as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, according to Kelly Siegel, CEO of National Technology Management. “Cyber threats aren’t hypothetical – they’re a relentless reality, and our airlines are in the crosshairs,” he said. The airline has established a dedicated customer support line and website page for updates.
The FBI’s warning about the “Scattered Spider” group highlights the use of social engineering techniques to bypass multifactor authentication and steal sensitive data. Airlines and their third-party providers are at risk, according to the agency. Qantas is taking steps to address the incident and protect its customers’ personal information.
Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/qantas-data-breach-exposes-up-six-million-customer-profiles