Qantas cyberattack affects up to 6m customer records

Qantas is contacting customers after a “cyber incident” in one of its contact centres breached passengers’ data.

 

The airline said it detected “unusual activity” on a third-party platform used by a Qantas airline contact centre on Monday (June 30).

 

“There are six million customers that have service records in this platform. We are continuing to investigate the proportion of the data that has been stolen, though we expect it will be significant,” said the Australian airline in a statement.

 

“An initial review has confirmed the data includes some customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers.

 

“Importantly, credit card details, personal financial information and passport details are not held in this system. No frequent flyer accounts were compromised nor have passwords, PIN numbers or log in details been accessed.”

 

It said the system is now contained and there is no impact to Qantas’ operations or the safety of the airline.

 

Qantas is contacting customers to apologise and provide details on the support available. Details are available on the airline’s website.

 

An investigation has begun and additional security measures have been put in place “to further restrict access and strengthen system monitoring and detection”.

 

Qantas has notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Federal Police.

 

Vanessa Hudson, Qantas Group chief executive, said: “We sincerely apologise to our customers and we recognise the uncertainty this will cause.

 

“Our customers trust us with their personal information and we take that responsibility seriously.

 

“We are contacting our customers today and our focus is on providing them with the necessary support.

 

“We are working closely with the Federal Government’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and independent specialised cyber security experts.”

 

The BBC reported that the cyberattack comes days after the FBI issued an alert on X warning that the airline sector was a target of cybercriminal group Scattered Spider.

 

US-based Hawaiian Airlines and Canada’s WestJet have both been hit by similar cyberattacks in the past two weeks.