National carrier Air India has become a victim of a major cyberattack. This attack has resulted in a theft of personal information of passengers, including passport, contact, ticket information and credit card details.
A total of 4,500,000 data subjects have been affected, the affected data being between August 2011 and February 2021, as said by the airlines.
Air India gave a notification, which read, ‘The breach involved personal data registered between 26 August 2011 and 3 February 2021, with details that included name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, Star Alliance and Air India frequent flyer data (but no passwords data were affected) as well as credit cards data.’
They further clarified, “While we had received the first notification in this regard from our data processor on 25.02.2021, we would like to clarify that the identity of the affected data subjects was only provided to us by our data processor on 25.03.2021 & 5.04.2021.”
Read Air India’s full statement here:
This is to inform that SITA PSS our data processor of the passenger service system (which is responsible for storing and processing of personal information of the passengers) had recently been subjected to a cybersecurity attack leading to personal data leak of certain passengers. This incident affected around 4,500,000 data subjects in the world.
While we had received the first notification in this regard from our data processor on 25.02.2021, we would like to clarify that the identity of the affected data subjects was only provided to us by our data processor on 25.03.2021 & 5.04.2021. The present communication is an effort to apprise of accurate state of facts as on date and to supplement our general announcement of 19th March 2021 initially made via our website.
The breach involved personal data registered between 26th August 2011 and 3rd February 2021, with details that included name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, Star Alliance and Air India frequent flyer data (but no passwords data were affected) as well as credit cards data. However, in respect of this last type of data, CVV/CVC numbers are not held by our data processor.
We would also like to inform you that the following measures to ensure safety of the data were immediately taken:
• Investigating the data security incident;
• Securing the compromised servers;
• Engaging external specialists of data security incidents;
• Notifying and liaising with the credit card issuers;
• Resetting passwords of Air India FFP program.
Further, our data processor has ensured that no abnormal activity was observed after securing the compromised servers.
While we and our data processor continue to take remedial actions including but not limited to the above, we would also encourage passengers to change passwords wherever applicable to ensure safety of their personal data.
The protection of our customers’ personal data is of highest importance to us and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused and appreciate continued support and trust of our passengers.
