Qantas reveals cyber breach exposed personal data of over 5 million customers
Australia’s Qantas Airways confirmed on Wednesday that a major cyberattack compromised the personal data of approximately 5.7 million customers, marking one of the country’s largest data breaches in recent years. Initially, Qantas reported 6 million records affected but later removed duplicates.
More than one million customers had sensitive details like phone numbers, birth dates, or home addresses accessed. An additional four million customers’ data was limited to names and email addresses.
The airline said there is currently no evidence that the stolen data has been publicly released, and it is actively monitoring the situation to protect affected customers.
“Since the incident, we have implemented several new cybersecurity measures to better safeguard our customers’ data and are thoroughly reviewing the breach,” Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson stated.
This breach follows a wave of high-profile cyberattacks in Australia, including those against telecom giant Optus and health insurer Medibank in 2022, which spurred the introduction of mandatory cyber resilience regulations.
