In a sophisticated cyberattack on national carrier Air India, the data of its 4.5 million passengers was compromised, reported the airline in an official statement on Friday. The data included the personal information of passengers from all over the world. Many Indian companies like LinkedIn, Upstox, etc. have been the target of hackers in recent times.
SITA is Air India’s passenger service system based in Geneva Switzerland.
The investigations are underway and no trace of unauthorized activity on the system infrastructure was found. However, the risk assessment is being carried out and the airline will update when anything is available.
The leaked data includes the information of a certain number of Air India’s passengers registered between 11 August 2011 and 3 February 2021. Name, date of birth, contact information, ticket information, passport information, and credit card data of the passengers have been compromised as per Air India.
Air India along with the service provider is carrying out a risk assessment and would further update as and when it becomes available, it said.
The cyberattack happened in the last week of February this year. However, the identity of the affected passengers was made available to the Airline by SITA on 25th March and 5 April.
Regulatory agencies in India are duly informed as per the law and the Airline is working closely with the national and international agencies to assess the situation.
The Airline has taken all necessary measures to investigate the data security incident. Affected servers are being secured with the help of specialists of data security and the credit card issuers have been notified as well. Additionally, the passwords of the Air India FFP program have been reset.
The airline has suggested its passengers change passwords wherever applicable.
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