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Last week, after detecting unauthorised activity on a “third-party platform” used by the airline’s contact centre in Manila, the airline called in cyber investigators and began notifying members. On Monday, Qantas said that “a potential cybercriminal has made contact” with the airline.
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The Qantas data breach follows cyberattacks on Optus and Medibank Private in 2022. The criminals who breached Medibank Private began posting customer data online to coerce the health insurer into paying a ransom.
CEO Vanessa Hudson said Qantas had purged data in the aftermath of the damaging hacks of Optus and Medibank in 2022.
“The data we were deleting was more personal identity data that has been historically held in our system, such as passport details and also other relevant identity data.”
“That has been an action that we took as a result of the Optus and the Medibank cyberattack”, Hudson said, without detailing the volume of data.
Hudson said it was too early to discuss compensation for affected Qantas travellers, as the company was focusing on updating them about the breach.
“By far the majority of customers have said ‘the next piece of information that I want from Qantas is the specific details of my data that was breached’, which is what we’re doing today,” she said.
As Hudson spoke, Qantas sent personalised emails to customers detailing what data was breached.
“Our cyber security teams have undertaken an investigation and we can confirm that the following types of your data held on the compromised system was accessed,” one email read, outlining that the customer’s name, email address, and tier of frequent flyer status had been breached.
Vanessa Hudson, chief executive officer of Qantas, said customers’ priorities has been to establish what data was stolen.Credit: Bloomberg
Hudson would not reveal anything about the cybercriminals behind the hack, saying it would be unhelpful to “speculate” and referring questions to the Australian Federal Police.
The AFP confirmed it was investigating the incident following a request by Qantas.
“Investigators are working closely with the airline and further comment will be provided at an appropriate time,” a spokesperson said.
The airline urged customers to “remain alert, especially with email, text messages or telephone calls, particularly where the sender or caller purports to be from Qantas”.
“Always independently verify the identity of the caller by contacting them on a number available through official channels,” it said.
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