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Qantas Contains Cyberattack on Contact Centre That Exposed Six Million Records

Operations remain unaffected, with the airline working alongside federal agencies, regulators, cybersecurity experts to assess the full scale of the breach

Six million customers may have been impacted in a Qantas cyberattack.
Qantas confirmed that the stolen data includes customer names, email addresses, and phone numbers, but assured customers that credit card and passport details, as well as passwords, were not accessed.
Sydney, Australia - November 26, 2017: Qantas Longreach 747 VH-OJT "Fraser Island" taking off from Sydney Airport, with domestic terminal in background.

Overview

  • Qantas detected unusual activity on June 30 in a third-party contact centre platform and swiftly quarantined the affected system.
  • An initial review found stolen data included customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers, while payment, passport and login credentials were not compromised.
  • The carrier has notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Federal Police and is supporting their ongoing investigation.
  • Affected customers are being contacted directly and offered access to dedicated support lines and identity-protection resources.
  • Qantas shares dipped about 2%, and cybersecurity firm CyberCX says the breach bears the hallmarks of the Scattered Spider hacker group.