Vietnam Airlines has confirmed a data breach affecting customer data on a third-party customer service platform.
The carrier, announcing the breach on 14 October, says it is among “several global companies” which use the platform to be impacted.
“Unauthorised access may have occurred to certain customer data processed through this platform,” Vietnam Airlines states, but does not disclose the number of customers affected.
It adds: “Upon being alerted, we took action in coordination with relevant authorities, cybersecurity experts, and its third-party partner to investigate the breach, assess potential impact and strengthen data protection.”
Vietnam Airlines notes that informationn about payments, passwords as well as passports “remain secure”. The airline’s IT systems were also not impacted by the breach.
The incident is the latest airline data breach in recent months. Canadian carrier WestJet was hit by a cybersecurity breach in June, involving the escape of some sensitive passenger information.
In July, Australian operator Qantas revealed that 5.7 million customer records were stolen, with most of the data limited to name, email address and frequent flyer details.
The carrier on 12 October confirmed that cyber criminals have released the stolen data, adding that it has sought an injunction “to prevent the stolen data being accessed, viewed, released, used, transmitted or published by anyone, including third parties”.
