Cathay Pacific Data Breach Affects 9.4 Million

Oct. 24, 2018

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2 min read

Cathay Pacific Data Breach Affects 9.4 Million

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Cathay Pacific announced on Wednesday that a data breach has affected 9.4 million of its customers.

The airline said it has not found any evidence that the customer information stolen has been misused yet. Data taken by the hackers includes passenger name, nationality, date of birth, phone number, email, address, passport number, identity card number, frequent flyer program membership number, customer service remarks and historical travel information.

Cathay Pacific also noted that a handful of credit card numbers were stolen: 27 credit card numbers with no CVV number were taken, along with 403 expired credit card numbers.

The combination of information taken from each passenger varies, the Hong Kong-based carrier noted in its statement. Cathay Pacific is reaching out to flyers whose data was stolen to alert them of the breach.

“We are in the process of contacting affected passengers, using multiple communications channels, and providing them with information on steps they can take to protect themselves," Cathay Pacific CEO Rupert Hogg said in the release. "We have no evidence that any personal data has been misused. Noone’s travel or loyalty profile was accessed in full, and no passwords were compromised.”

The carrier says that as soon as it discovered the hack, it took "immediate action to investigate and contain the event." The company apologized and said it would be beefing up its online security.

“We want to reassure our passengers that we took and continue to take measures to enhance our IT security," Hogg added. "The safety and security of our passengers remains our top priority.” Police in Hong Kong and other authorities were alerted about the incident.

The hack did not affect flight safety because the IT system that was breached is completely different than the flight operations system.

Passengers who think they might have been affected by the breach can email the airline at infosecurity@cathaypacific.com or visit infosecurity.cathaypacific.com for more information.