More Asian airlines announce data breaches after attack on Spanish IT provider Amadeus
Multiple Asian airlines have confirmed data breaches following a cyberattack on Spanish IT provider Amadeus, exposing customer details including passport information and travel itineraries.
Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have all come forward over the last week to report data breaches traced back to Amadeus IT Group — a company that builds and maintains platforms for flight reservation, ticketing and check-in systems.
Amadeus Response
A spokesperson for Amadeus confirmed the company recently became aware of a vulnerability affecting a travel booking display environment. 'Certain booking-display data was accessible through the vulnerability. Although our investigations continue, we can confirm that there is no evidence that payment or financial data was accessed,' the spokesperson said.
There are no indications that this vulnerability has been exploited for ransomware purposes. Amadeus implemented measures to fix the vulnerability as well as enhanced monitoring and detection capabilities.
Customer Impact
Japan Airlines reported 92,000 customers had information stolen, while Singapore Airlines confirmed 46,000 records were accessed. Cathay Pacific said 53,000 records were stolen, including booking numbers, passenger names, flight details, and in some cases, passports and travel documents.
Singapore Airlines announced it would contact people with upcoming flights to change their now-exposed booking numbers and urged customers to be wary of malicious emails. All affected airlines confirmed the cyberattack on Amadeus did not impact their own systems or operations.
Broader Context
Amadeus reported more than $6.5 billion in revenue last year and has deals with hundreds of airlines and airports for IT services.
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