Data hack leaves 10m air passengers at risk

THE personal details of almost ten million Cathay Pacific passengers may have been stolen in yet another major security breach.

Hong Kong’s flagship carrier revealed criminals have hacked into its IT systems containing a treasure trove of information for fraudsters.

It said details of up to 9.4million passengers, including members of its Marco Polo and Asia Miles frequent flyer clubs, have been obtained. The combination of data stolen varies for each affected passenger, it said.

But their name, nationality, date of birth, phone number, home address, email address, passport details and historical travel information are among the details.

Cathay confirmed criminals also gained ‘unauthorised access’ to passengers’ frequent flyer programme membership number and customer service remarks.

The airline operates regular flights from British airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester. But it was not clear last night how many British passengers have been affected.

The airline said it took ‘immediate action to investigate and contain the event’ and said the Hong Kong police have been notified.

But it also admitted it first found suspicious activity on its network in March and investigations in early May confirmed certain personal data had been accessed.

The revelation comes after British Airways last month said card details of around 380,000 passengers had been stolen.