Cathay Pacific: ‘Intense’ hack lasted for months
Cathay Pacific disclosed the recent data breach was much worse than it first acknowledged.
Initially describing it as ‘suspicious activity,’ the breach was in fact a sustained attack on its system for more than three months.
Internal and external IT security teams fought to contain the cyberattack throughout March, April and May, it said.
Its security firewalls were repeatedly breached by ‘sophisticated hackers’ despite the airline spending HK$1 billion in three years on IT infrastructure and security.
The company made the admission in a written submission to Hong Kong government officials ahead of a committee hearing this week to discuss the matter.
The airline had been roundly criticised for keeping quiet for so long about the data breach and the latest admission, contradicting earlier statements has angered lawmakers.
Lawmaker Charles Mok said: "March, May, August they missed all these opportunities to report it. The answers are very vague… they didn’t elaborate."
"The investigation was complex, longer than what we would have wished, and we would have liked to have been able to provide this information sooner," Cathay said.
"Throughout our investigation into this incident, our foremost objective and primary motivation has been to support our affected passengers by providing accurate and meaningful information."
About 9.4 million people were affected in the biggest ever airline industry data breach.
A criminal investigation and an inquiry by Hong Kong’s privacy regulator is still ongoing.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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