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BA hacked: 380,000 card payments 'compromised' in breach

Thu, 06 Sep 2018

British Airways (BA) says the credit card information of at least 380,000 customers has been "compromised" in a data theft.

The airline said people using BA.com and its mobile app for flight bookings were targeted by hackers between 21 August and 5 September.

Information stolen includes customer names, email addresses, home addresses and payment card information - but not travel or passport details.

BA added: "The breach has been resolved and our website is working normally.

"British Airways is communicating with affected customers and we advise any customers who believe they may have been affected by this incident to contact their banks or credit card providers and follow their recommended advice.

"We have notified the police and relevant authorities... [and] will continue to keep our customers updated with the very latest information. We will be contacting customers and will manage any claims on an individual basis."

BA is the latest major UK company to report such an attack - seemingly the largest since the owner of Currys PC World, Dixons Carphone, admitted in early summer that nine million of its customers had been hit by a data breach.

The theft is also likely to lead to a union backlash after criticism of the airline's decision to outsource IT work to India.

The issue came to the fore after a costly IT failure last year that left 75,000 passengers stranded.

The company's chairman and chief executive, Alex Cruz, said: "We are deeply sorry for the disruption that this criminal activity has caused.

"We take the protection of our customers' data very seriously."

 

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