Travellers are being told to brace for an increase in airline scams after cyber criminals targeted millions of Qantas customers.
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Qantas has revealed millions of customer records were stolen earlier this year, following a slew of cyber attacks.
The Australian airline - which flies to European hotspots including London, Paris and Rome - was subject to a major cyber incident in early July, when personal information was stolen via a third-party platform and shared on the dark web.
Qantas has received an injunction from the New South Wales Supreme Court to prevent the stolen data from being accessed, viewed, released, used, transmitted or published by anyone.
Still, experts have warned travellers to keep an eye out forairline scams, and act cautiously if approached by people claiming to represent Qantas.
Qantas data breach: What information has been leaked?
Of the 5.7 million Qantas customer records that were stolen earlier this year, the majority were limited to passengers’ names, email addresses and Frequent Flyer details.
Qantas warns that a “smaller portion” of the impacted data breach does include customers’ business or home addresses, date of birth, phone numbers, gender and meal preferences.
However, it states that no credit card details, personal financial information orpassport details were impacted.
“There continues to be no impact to Qantas Frequent Flyer accounts,” the airline adds.
“Passwords, PINs and login details were not accessed or compromised. The data that was stolen is not enough to gain access to these frequent flyer accounts.”
What should I do if my personal data has been leaked?
Qantas says it has already advised all customers impacted by the hack and explained what personal data was breached during the cyber attack.
It says it will continue to share updates and has a specialist support line where customers have ongoing access to specialist identity protection services.
Concerned travellers are being urged to hang up on cold-callers and make sure they contact the airline directly if they suspect they’ve been targeted.
Customers are also being advised against trying to find their stolen data on the dark web, as accessing this type of material is against the law.
What is Qantas doing to prevent another data leak?
The airline says it has put “additional security measures” in place since the incident, increased training across its teams and "strengthened system monitoring and detection”.
It is closely working with Australian Government agencies, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Federal Police.
Euronews Travel has contacted Qantas for further comment.
