Cathay offers ID monitoring services after data hacking

Cathay Pacific Airways says it is offering identification monitoring services to the 9.4 million affected passengers after their personal data were leaked by hackers.

The ID monitoring services will be provided by Experian, a global data and information service provider.

This service monitors whether any personal data of passengers affected by the hacking could be available on public websites, chat rooms, blogs, and non-public places on the internet, where data can be compromised via dark websites, according to mobile notice sent to these customers by Cathay.

The service is optional and passengers affected by the hacking can decide how much personal information they want to disclose to Experian.

The airline warned that the personal data could be misused for unauthorized purposes such as fraud or identity theft. It is advising passengers to visit www.globalidworks.com/identity1 and start internet surveillance of their personal data.

It is also advising passengers to consider changing their passwords regularly and to check for any suspicious activity; they should also be vigilant about any scams and about phishing (illegally obtaining sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details).

The Hong Kong-based carrier discovered suspicious activity on its network in March. The airline confirmed the unauthorized access to some personal data in May, it said late on Wednesday. There is no evidence any information has been misused; moreover, flight safety has not been compromised, it said.

A bundle of information, including affected passengers’ personal information, 403 expired credit card numbers, 27 credit card numbers with no CVV, or a security code, about 860,000 passport numbers and 245,000 Hong Kong ID numbers were exposed in this latest incident.

A spokesperson for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said Friday that the special administrative region government is highly concerned about the incident.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data immediately initiated a compliance check and asked Cathay Pacific Airways to take prompt remedial measures.

“We have requested Cathay Pacific Airways to fully co-operate with the PCPD on the compliance check. We also hope that the PCPD will complete the check and make a report expeditiously so that Cathay Pacific Airways can comply with the requirements,” the spokesperson said.

British Airways and Delta Air Lines suffered similar hacking incidents which affected hundreds of thousands of customers. Airlines are now boosting spending to improve cyber security and prevent hacking of systems which store sensitive personal and financial information such as credit cards.

The data breach at Cathay Pacific — a partner of British Airways in the Oneworld airline alliance — is just another headache for Rupert Hogg, the airline’s chief executive officer. He has been attempting to turn around the fortunes of the marquee carrier after it reported two consecutive annual losses.

Hogg has slashed jobs starting with the carrier’s head office in Hong Kong in order to reduce costs. He has also introduced better businessclass services on long-haul flights to encourage more premium passengers.