British Airways Data Breach
The chief executive of British Airways has apologised for what he has called a very sophisticated breach of the firm's security systems. Alex Cruz told the BBC that hackers carried out a "sophisticated, malicious criminal attack" on its website.
The airline said personal and financial details of customers making bookings had been compromised. About 380,000 transactions were affected, but the stolen data did not include travel or passport details.
Breach 'resolved'
BA said the breach took place between 22:58 BST on 21 August and 21:45 BST on 5 September.
"The breach has been resolved and our website is working normally," BA said in a statement.
"We have notified the police and relevant authorities. We take the protection of our customers' data very seriously."
BA said all customers affected by the breach had been contacted on Thursday night. The breach only affects those people who bought tickets during the timeframe provided by BA, and not on other occasions. Mr Cruz added: "At the moment, our number one purpose is contacting those customers that made those transactions to make sure they contact their credit card bank providers so they can follow their instructions on how to manage that breach of data."
The airline has taken out adverts apologising for the breach in recent newspapers.
What Data was Stolen?
BA says hackers stole names, email addresses and credit card information, that would be credit card number, expiration date and the three-digit code on the back of the credit card.
What could the Hackers do with the data?
Once fraudsters have your personal information, they may be able to access your bank account, or open new accounts in your name, or use your details to make fraudulent purchases. They could also sell on your details to other crooks.
What do I need to do?
If you've been affected, you should change your online passwords. Then monitor your bank and credit card accounts keeping an eye out for any dodgy transactions. Also be very wary of any emails or calls asking for more information to help deal with the data breach: crooks often pose as police, banks or, in this instance they could pretend to be from BA.
Will my booking be affected?
BA says none of the bookings have been hit by the breach. It said it has contacted all those affected to alert them to the problem with their data, but booked flights should go ahead.
Will there be compensation for me?
If you suffer any financial loss or hardship, the airline has promised to compensate you.
Investigations
Mr Cruz said that BA has a network of partners that monitor websites around the world. The cyber-attack was first discovered on the evening of Wednesday, 5 September, when a partner alerted the airline, which began investigating overnight to identify just how serious the attack was.
"The moment that actual customer data had been compromised, that's when we began immediate communication to our customers."
Under the newly enforced rules on protecting customer data BA could face potentially significant fines from the Information Commissioner's Office, which is looking into the breach.
The National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre confirmed they were assessing the incident. Shares in BA owner IAG fell by 2.5% in early trade on Friday 7th Sept.
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