Cathay Pacific data breach hits 9.4 million customers

Cathay Pacific has become the latest airline to have suffered a huge data leak, after revealing hackers had gained “unauthorised access” to the data of up to 9.4 million passengers, including passport numbers, contact details and travel histories.
The airline said in a statement that it had “no evidence that any personal information has been misused” and was in the process of contacting affected customers.
The airline’s chief executive Rupert Hogg said: “We are very sorry for any concern this data security event may cause our passengers. We acted immediately to contain the event, commence a thorough investigation with the assistance of a leading cyber security firm, and to further strengthen our IT security measures.”
The airline said that it first detected “suspicious activity” on its IT systems in March and confirmed the “unauthorised access” to certain personal information in early May.
It said the combination of data accessed varied by passenger but included passenger name, nationality, date of birth, contact details, passport number, identity card number, frequent flyer programme membership number and historical travel information.
Last month, British Airways disclosed that hackers had stolen data relating to about 380,000 customers from its website and mobile app during a two-week period beginning on August 21, at the height of the summer holiday season.