industry

British Airways fined £20MN after hack stole hundreds of thousands of customer details


Investigators from the ICO found the airline should have identified the security weaknesses which enabled the attack to take place. The carrier failed to protect the personal and financial details of more than 400,000 customers, the ICO said.

 

The ICO added that British Airways did not detect the hack for more than two months.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: “People entrusted their personal details to BA, and BA failed to take adequate measures to keep those details secure.

“Their failure to act was unacceptable and affected hundreds of thousands of people, which may have caused some anxiety and distress as a result.

“That’s why we have issued BA with a £20 million fine – our biggest to date.”

 

“When organisations take poor decisions around people’s personal data, that can have a real impact on people’s lives.

“The law now gives us the tools to encourage businesses to make better decisions about data, including investing in up-to-date security.”

The ICO initially said July last year that British Airways could be fined more than £183 million, more than nine times the fine the airline has eventually been given. 

They said it considered “representations from BA and the economic impact of COVID-19 on their business” before setting the final penalty.

READ MORE: Flights: Airline worker reveals the ‘cleanest’ time to fly

These details included the names, addresses, payment card numbers and the three digits on the back of cards of 77,000 customers, and card numbers only for 108,000 customers.

Usernames and passwords of British Airways’ employee and administrator accounts, as well as the usernames and PINs of up to 612 of the airline’s Executive Club accounts, were also potentially accessed.





READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.