A fine for being hacked

It’s not often that the victim of a “sophisticated, malicious criminal attack” ends up being fined. And, as fines go, £183 million is pretty steep.

But that is the penalty the Information Commissioner’s Office plans to impose on British Airways after hackers were able to redirect passengers to a fraudulent website, enabling them to steal the data of about 500,000 people.

The dawning of the “Information Age”, also known as the Digital or Computer Age, has fundamentally changed the world as we know it in a myriad of different ways. Most

of them are good and represent progress towards a brighter future, but perhaps we have been partially blinded by starry-eyed optimism. Criminals were always likely to look for ways to exploit new technologies and it’s past time to get real.

Even if BA manages to get the fine reduced on appeal, it should send a powerful message about just how seriously the authorities – and, therefore, everyone – must take online security. As Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham rightly said: “The law is clear: when you are entrusted with personal data, you must look after it.”