Update on Qantas frequent flyers data hack
The airline said in a statement late on Monday that 'a potential cybercriminal has made contact' but it would not disclose if a ransom was being sought.
'As this is a criminal matter, we have engaged the Australian Federal Police and won't be commenting any further on the detail of the contact,' a Qantas spokesman said.
Qantas said it was working with cybersecurity experts 'to validate' the authenticity of the communication.
'There is no evidence that any personal data stolen from Qantas has been released but, with the support of specialist cybersecurity experts, we continue to actively monitor,' the airline said. Chief executive Vanessa Hudson said on Friday Qantas was working with authorities to resolve the matter, NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui Credit: News Corp Australia
The airline confirmed last Wednesday that a cyber attack occurred in one of its Filipino call centres, and customers' names, dates of birth, emails, and frequent flyer numbers were stolen.
Other personal information such as credit card, passport, and financial details were not stored in those centres, Qantas has said.
In an update on Friday, the Australian Federal Police said Qantas had been 'highly engaged' with the authorities investigating the breach.
More to come
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
6 hours ago
- Perth Now
Major update after Greens candidate injured
Police have dropped one of the charges against former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas after it was found officers should not have used a rare emergency power introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots. Former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas was arrested and charged after a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney's southwest. Supplied Credit: Supplied NSW Police said the protest was not authorised and attempted to disperse the group. 'Five people have been arrested following an unauthorised protest in Sydney's west this morning,' a statement at the time read. 'About 5.35am Friday, officers attached to Campsie Police Area Command attended Lakemba Street, Belmore. Police issued a move-on direction to a group of about 60 protesters, who allegedly attempted to block pedestrian access to the business. 'A 26-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were subsequently arrested after allegedly failing to comply with the direction. During the 35-year-old woman's arrest, she sustained facial injuries and was taken to Bankstown Hospital for treatment.' Ms Thomas suffered a battered eye and said she may lose her vision. Supplied. Credit: Supplied Last week, Ms Thomas was charged with resisting arrest and refusing or failing to comply with a direction to disperse. Four others were also charged with a variety of offences. 'As police attempted to arrest the protesters who were not complying with the directions, a scuffle ensued between police and protesters,' a police statement read. Ms Thomas was additionally charged with a rarely used emergency anti-riot power under 6A of the Law Enforcement Powers and Responsibilities Act (LEPRA). The powers are in place to deal with 'large-scale public disorder', were introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots and must be signed off by senior officers. She was seen with a swollen eye after the protest. Supplied Credit: Supplied On Monday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden confirmed police had dropped the charge after reviewing the incident. He said 'police will seek to withdraw the alternative charge' at the next court appearance. Following the incident last month, Ms Thomas said she may lose her vision permanently and blamed 'draconian anti-protest laws' brought in by the Minns government. Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden dropped one of the charges against the former Greens candidate. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia 'I don't want to get into too much detail about the traumatic events on Friday, but I'm five foot one, I weigh about 45kg, I was engaged in peaceful protest, and my interactions with NSW Police have left me potentially without vision in my right eye permanently,' she said in a clip shared by MP Sue Higginson. Ms Thomas challenged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the federal seat of Grayndler at the federal election earlier this year She is set to face Bankstown Local Court on August 12.
ABC News
9 hours ago
- ABC News
Australian police to be embedded in Fiji's Police Force under new measures
On the program today Australian Federal Police will be embedded in Fiji's Police Force as part of a new raft of measures to strengthen the Vuvale Partnership between the two countries. A historic chiefly installation is gets underway in the Lau islands in Fiji. Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape says witnesses to so-called sorcery killings will soon be prosecuted alongside perpetrators. Nuclear radiation survivors in Guam are left heartbroken after being left out of a compensation act under Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill." Monolithic statues from the remote Polynesian island of Rapa Nui pop up in museums and private collections. And Australia's Victorian Government grants cultural exemptions for the use of machetes.
ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
NSW audit finds gaps in state, local government cyber protections
A cybercrime expert has warned of a "worrying pattern" after government agencies were found to have implemented less than a third of basic cybersecurity protections in New South Wales. State government agencies only met 31 per cent of mandatory requirements to protect public data, according to a report released by the Audit Office of NSW last week. In total, 27 of these agencies reported 152 "significant, high, and extreme" cybersecurity threats in 2024. According to the report, 28 of the threats had remedies "that were either largely or completely ineffective". Additionally, 60 risks lacked specified timelines to reduce them to an acceptable level. Professor of cybercrime at the University of NSW Richard Buckland said the report's findings showed entities were increasingly at risk. He said that if effective, a cyber attack could "paralyse a section of society or the government". "This has been a pattern, a worrying pattern," he said. The report found a blind spot was the use of external contractors for some cybersecurity measures, for which the NSW government has no way of measuring if they were up-to-scratch. Professor Buckland said he understood the desire to outsource but warned it came with its own risks. "It's harder to monitor, to control, so external people helping you is a double-edged sword, especially if you don't have external capability to jump in when something goes wrong." It comes after Qantas reported a major cyber attack in which it said a "significant" portion of its six million customers' data was stolen and that a "potential cyber criminal" had made contact with the airline. In 2020, the personal information of more than 180,000 people was compromised by hackers who managed to access information held by Service NSW. Responding to the attack cost the state government more than $30 million, the audit office reported. Professor Buckland said the report pointed out the "same problem" every year and government agencies were "just not adequately defended". "They [the audit office] must be tearing their hair out wondering what they can do to bring about change." The report also found local councils were lagging in their defence against nefarious online actors, with only 69 per cent training staff in cyber awareness. It said one council suffered a ransomware attack that targeted local government records, employee financial data and systems responsible for monitoring water quality. Councils in NSW are not mandated to implement Cyber Security NSW's policies, but the agency recommends they adopt safeguards. "We've seen worldwide a big rise in targeted attacks against municipalities — the equivalent of councils in America — against libraries, schools, smaller and less well-funded data-rich organisations." Reacting to the report, Premier Chris Minns on Monday said the government had to find $90 million to 'plug gaps' in cybersecurity funding. 'It is a concern. I'm going to be honest, I would like to see us meet all the criteria immediately that the auditor-general identified,' he said. 'That's not possible though; most of the funding for cybersecurity in NSW had been cut or put on a funding cliff by the previous government.' He warned it will cost a lot more to make all government agencies safe. "Some of these organised crime gangs, usually located offshore, are pretty sophisticated, and we obviously have to be on our guard," the premier said.
