Air India Data Breach: Personal Information Of 45 Lakh Passengers Leaked

In a massive security breach, the details of about 45 lakh Air India passengers, including their name, date of birth, contact details, passport information, credit card details, have been leaked.

In a communique to its affected passengers, the national carrier said that the authority tasked with storing and processing of personal information of the passengers had been subjected to extreme cyber-attack resulting in leakage of personal data of certain passengers.

"As part of our commitment, we would like to inform you that SITA PSS, our data processor of the passenger service system, recently notified Air India of a data security breach involving personal data of certain passengers, including yours, " reported Hindustan Times.

The airline said that they had received the first notification in this regard on February 25, the identity of the affected passengers was provided by the data processor to Air India on March 25 and April 5, 2021.

The breach involved personal data recorded for over ten years —registered between August 26, 2011 and February 21, 2021.

Air India data breached in a major Cyber attack. Breach involves Passengers personal Information including Credit Card Info and Passport Details. Other Global Airlines are likely affected too.#airindia #CyberAttack @airindiain@rahulkanwal @sanket @maryashakil pic.twitter.com/XxUORgInJQ

— Jiten Jain (@jiten_jain) May 21, 2021

Meanwhile, the national carrier has launched a probe into the incident and said that it has taken steps to ensure data safety, reported NDTV. It also encouraged passengers to change their passwords. This development has come as another major concern for the debt-ridden airline.

Last year, British Airways was fined 20 million-pound amounting over ₹ 180 crore for a data breach incident in 2018 that leaked the details of about 4 lakh of its customers.

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