Cathay Pacific Airways Announces Hackers Have Given Customer Data Wings

cageymaru

cageymaru

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Cathay Pacific Airways has announced that a 'data security event' occurred (hack) in March and 9.4 million people are affected. The airline says that there is no evidence that personal information has been misused and reassured passengers that the flight operations are on a separate system. None of Cathay Pacific customer data was accessed in full and passwords are still secure. Only data such as passenger name; nationality; date of birth; phone number; email; address; passport number; identity card number; frequent flyer programme membership number; customer service remarks; and historical travel information were accessed. Oh and a few hundreds credit cards numbers.

Anyone who believes they may be affected can contact Cathay Pacific in the following ways: Via the dedicated website -- infosecurity.cathaypacific.com -- which provides information about the event and what to do next. Via Cathay Pacific's dedicated call centre available after 12:30/25OCT (GMT+8) (toll free numbers are available on infosecurity.cathaypacific.com). Email Cathay Pacific at [email protected].

An angry passenger, identified by the user name smileymiley, left a comment on the Post's website, claiming "in the past six months I have had to cancel credit cards which were registered with Cathay showing unauthorised transactions of US$4,000 from airlines". He could not be reached for comment.
 
cageymaru said:
… None of Cathay Pacific customer data was accessed in full and passwords are still secure. Only data such as passenger name; nationality; date of birth; phone number; email; address; passport number; identity card number; frequent flyer programme membership number; customer service remarks; and historical travel information were accessed. Oh and a few hundreds credit cards numbers.
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The damage identity thieves and fake passport peddlers can do with these information is not something they should be downplaying.
 
Teenk9 said:
The damage identity thieves and fake passport peddlers can do with these information is not something they should be downplaying.
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I agree. That Cathay Pacific announcement sugar coated the whole ordeal. Why would they wait 8 months to announce that they were hacked? That's why I came up with the headline to go with their silly glossed-over announcement. The South China Morning Post article that I linked shows that customers are truly upset. How can you tell if someone has accessed someone's personal data and used it for nefarious deeds if you wait 8 months to tell them? What kind of study was that?

Anyways they have flights out of North Carolina so I figured that some of our readership might have been affected by the breach.
 
cageymaru said:
I agree. That Cathay Pacific announcement sugar coated the whole ordeal. Why would they wait 8 months to announce that they were hacked? That's why I came up with the headline to go with their silly glossed-over announcement. The South China Morning Post article that I linked shows that customers are truly upset. How can you tell if someone has accessed someone's personal data and used it for nefarious deeds if you wait 8 months to tell them? What kind of study was that?

Anyways they have flights out of North Carolina so I figured that some of our readership might have been affected by the breach.
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I'm Asian so you can only imagine how many of my family and friends have flown Cathay. I've just sent many of them the article to alert them.
 
All of the data breaches have been downplayed, they know lawsuits are potentially coming down the pipe
 
The passport numbers being taken and some credit card numbers . . . .that is a big deal to me. I would be pissed also.
 
Fyi that's enough information to do total identity fraud. Good luck proving you are who you say you are for the rest of your life.
 
cageymaru said:
Only data such as passenger name; nationality; date of birth; phone number; email; address; passport number; identity card number; frequent flyer programme membership number; customer service remarks; and historical travel information were accessed. Oh and a few hundreds credit cards numbers.
Click to expand...

Phew, didn't get my blood samples. I was worried there for a minute.
 
cageymaru said:
...data such as passenger name; nationality; date of birth; phone number; email; address; passport number; identity card number; frequent flyer programme membership number; customer service remarks; and historical travel information were accessed. Oh and a few hundreds credit cards numbers.
Click to expand...

This is why modern jet-setting consumers have multiple passports, credit cards and stuff.

Announcing Cathay Pacific's Great Getaway Packages. Deals on flights and new identities for your entire family! Tired of being who you are - be someone else's stolen identity on your next trip abroad - Fly Cathay Cavalier style.
 
Passwords weren't compromised? With the amount and type of data taken who needs them? Almost all password reset services don't need anything more than what was already taken. Not to mention that who would need a password reset when you can just open new accounts anywhere with that info?
 
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