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RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson apologises to customers for data breach
By Nassim Khadem and Rhiana Whiston , ABC Photo: WILLIAM WEST/AFP The Qantas chief executive says the airline takes cybersecurity breaches "incredibly seriously" and has apologised to more than 6 million customers who received a personalised email on Wednesday, informing them that cybercriminals had broken through the company's defences. "What I would first like to say is acknowledge the impact to all our customers and, first and foremost, I'd like to apologise to them," Vanessa Hudson said in an interview with Channel Seven in Athens overnight. "I know this data breach is a serious concern. I know the stress that it has created for many, many millions of customers. "And so, right up front, I want to say we take this seriously and we are going to do everything that we can to communicate transparently." Hudson said the breach occurred when a cybercriminal infiltrated one of the airline's call centres and accessed a service platform that enabled them to get access to customer data. She said the criminals accessed "principally customer names, also phone numbers and frequent flyer numbers as well". "That is something that we are very concerned about and we are absolutely doing everything that we can to rectify this situation," she said. "What I can also say, though, is that that the threat has been contained and the systems are now secure, and our number-one focus is to support customers through this process." Hudson said the airline communicated with its customers "as quickly as possible" and it was being transparent. Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson. Photo: AFP / Qantas "I take absolute responsibility for the event that has occurred. As soon as I heard about it, I have focused on it basically 24/7," she said. "Part of the steps that we're taking [involves being] ... really transparent with customers, but then also obviously next week we'll be following up and giving our customers the information that they need to understand how the specific data pertaining to them has potentially been breached in this." Hudson said the company had invested "tens of millions" of dollars in cyber security and "that's been increasing year on year" but criminals were getting more sophisticated. "We take cybersecurity incredibly seriously, and we have got absolute focus right across our organisation, from training to system controls to system alerts in this instance," she said. "Unfortunately, the cybercriminal was able to get through." Hudson said Qantas was now working with the federal government to "investigate this right through to the end". "These are criminal cybercriminals and we have involved the AFP and we've involved the government cybersecurity team," she said. She noted the cybercriminals did not get access to customers' passport information, credit card information or password information. "Your frequent flyer accounts, from a customer perspective, are secure," she said. "We have not had passport information breached. We have not had credit card information breached and we have not had password information breached." Hudson said Qantas had provided "significant training" to employees but cybercriminals were getting more apt at breaching security measures. "We are going to learn from this. We are going to do a full investigation," she said. Hudson said the airline had now "strengthened and increased controls" and would continue to build its defences against future breaches. But she said the reality for all organisations was "we live in a world where our cybercriminals are global". "They [cyber criminals] are good at what they do. They are constantly innovating in terms of what we do. And so that is why we are constantly going to be improving our systems as we go forward as well." The company's reputation has been battered in recent years. That has included coping penalties for misleading customers by selling tickets on flights that had already been cancelled. Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce also faced heat in parliamentary hearings over rising profits and airfares despite growing customer dissatisfaction. Asked whether the cyber breach would further dent the airline's standing with customers, Hudson said "trust is something that is earned" and "comes from being up-front and transparent and that is what we are doing". "In this event, we have communicated to customers as soon as we knew." -ABC
RNZ News
17 hours ago
- RNZ News
Russian seizures and growing debt see Airwork Group go into receivership
Photo: lenor/123RF Long-established air freight company Airwork Group has been placed into receivership. Airwork, whose New Zealand roots trace back to 1936, has a fleet of Boeing 737 freighters and operates an air freight, maintenance, and aircraft leasing business. The company was briefly listed on the stock exchange in 2013 before a Chinese company, Zhejiang Rifa Holdings, took it private in 2017. Brendon Gibson, Daniel Stoneman and Neale Jackson of Calibre Partners were appointed as receivers. They said the move was made after a shareholder breached the company's banking facilities during the sale of the business. "This step has been taken to facilitate a structured process to identify a new owner for the business," Gibson said. "The trading performance of the business underpins the strategy to continue to trade with the support of the financiers, customers, and key suppliers with a view of immediately commencing a going-concern sale process for the New Zealand and Australian businesses and assets." In recent years, Airwork racked up hundreds of millions of dollars of losses after five of its six Boeing 757 freighter aircraft were trapped and illegally seized in Russia after the country invaded Ukraine. That forced the company to write off its value, and it became trapped in litigation with its insurers. The company sold its helicopter operations in 2022 and has since sold several surplus aircraft and engines to try and stay afloat. More recently, Airwork defaulted on a USD$83.5 million bank loan. The company employs around 180 people in New Zealand and Australia. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
Tourism Holdings warns of hit to full year earnings
Campervan operator Tourism Holdings says reiterated that its full year underlying profit will be at the lower end of analysts' expectations of $27 million to $34.4m. Photo: Campervan operator and takeover target Tourism Holdings is warning of a hit to full year earnings from weaker vehicle sales, pressured bookings, and a possible writedown of an asset value. The company repeated for the second time in two months that its full year underlying profit will be at the lower end of investment analysts' expectations of $27 million to $34.4m. It made a similar warning in April when the consensus of forecasts was $45.2m. "The result for FY25 reflects continued near-term earnings pressure from the challenges impacting global RV (recreational vehicle) sales and, to a lesser extent, the USA market," the company said in a statement to the NZX. "Manufacturing divisions in Australia and New Zealand will also experience a year-on-year earnings decline, as manufacturing volumes decrease following the actions taken to right-size production and total inventory." Tourism Holdings reported a profit of $39.4m in the previous financial year. It said it was also looking at whether to make a write down in the value of assets, the principal item being goodwill of $36m associated with its US business. Goodwill is the value attached to intangible items such as brand value and software. "Given the uncertain outlook for international travel to the USA, THL expects that a goodwill impairment may be required," adding it was looking at other possible one-off items which would affect the bottom line. However, it said the start of the new financial year showed a double digit improvement in bookings in New Zealand and Australia, and single figures in the US. Last month Tourism Holdings said it had received an indicative takeover offer from a consortium comprising Australian private equity firm BGH Capital and the former owners of an Australian tourism business bought by THL. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
