Qantas hack results in theft of 6 million passengers’ personal data

Australian airline giant Qantas said on Wednesday it experienced a data breach that compromised the personal information of at least six million passengers.

The airline said a cybercriminal targeted one of its call centers on June 30, and stole customer data from its systems, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and frequent flyer numbers.

Qantas is the latest airline hacked in recent weeks following a spate of breaches attributed to Scattered Spider, a collective of hackers and tactics that are highly adept at breaking into the networks of big companies. Canadian airline WestJet suffered a data breach in June, which media reports have linked to Scattered Spider. Hawaiian Airlines also said last week it had suffered a data breach.

Google’s security unit Mandiant told TechCrunch on Wednesday that it is “too early to tell” if the Qantas hack was linked to Scattered Spider, but warned that airlines should be on “high alert” for social engineering attacks.