Qantas hack victims could get compensation, say experts
A week after Qantas disclosed the loss of data of up to six million customers, consumer law experts say the airline could ultimately face penalties, if a series of conditions are met.
Qantas detected unusual activity on a 'third-party platform' used by the airline's contact centre in Manila early last week, prompting an investigation, which determined customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and birthdates, as well as frequent flyer numbers had been accessed, through a third-party vendor to Qantas.
The airline disclosed the breach, which has been suspected to be the work of a criminal cybergang called Scattered Spider.
On Monday, Qantas said 'a potential cybercriminal has made contact' with the airline, saying it was 'working to validate' the communication. Cybersecurity officials fear the data could ultimately be used as ransom.
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The uncertainty over the status of customer data highlights the volume of data held by Qantas.
Maurice Blackburn class action lawyer Lizzie O'Shea, who specialises in privacy issues, said: 'Qantas is a holder of a very significant amount of consumer information, involving huge amounts of data that are used for all sorts of purposes, including profiling consumer behaviour.'
Australian privacy law requires an entity to take reasonable steps to protect customers' information from misuse and unauthorised access.
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