Data Breach - Air India (2021)
There have been many recent incidents related to data breaches from different companies, including the top companies in and around the country. The most recent data breach was reported by the well-known airline of India, Air India. Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered in New Delhi. It is owned by Air India Limited, a government-owned enterprise, and operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving 102 domestic and international destinations.
Let’s look at the information about the data breach faced by the airline.
About the Air India Data breach
Air India has conveyed that the data of millions of passengers have been compromised due to a cyber attack and it involves the personal data of the passengers registered between 26 August 2011 and 20 February 2021.
The airline has announced that the data breach had taken place due to a breach from the SITA passenger service system and the data breach involved the information of around 45 lakh passengers.
What is SITA?
SITA is a technology-based company which is located in Switzerland. The company specializes in information technology and air transport communications. The country that was started with an 11-member airline now has a customer base of 2,500 customers in more than 200 countries across the globe.
SITA confirmed that the company was affected by a Cyberattack that resulted in a data breach. This breach affected Air India and Malaysia Airlines, Finnair, Singapore Airlines, Jeju Air, etc. This attack leaked data of all those customers who used their services between August of 2011 and February 2021. SITA claims that it provides services to around 90% of airlines around the world. It provides services such as airport operations, including total airport management, safety and security, Aircraft operations, Baggage processing, and much more so you can imagine how much data they must have and how sensitive it would be. Air India revealed in a statement. Air India was first notified about the cyber attack on February 25 2021 by SITA.
How much data was hacked?
This data breach happened on the 25th of February 2021 but the nature of the data was only provided on March 25 and April 5. Data stored for over 10 years from 2011 to 2021 was hacked. This affected over 4.5 million users all over the world. Air India informed all the users who were affected through email.
The compromised information includes passenger personal details like,
- Names
- Date of birth
- Contact details
- Credit card details
- Passport details
- Ticket details
- Frequent flyer data
Steps were taken by Air India after the Data Breach
The airlines have conveyed that they would launch an investigation into the incident. Other than this they have conveyed that, they have taken steps to secure the compromised servers, engaging certain external specialists of data security incidents, resetting passwords of its frequent flyer program, and contacting the credit card customers.
How can I protect my data?
The thing is now you won’t be able to protect the data which has already been breached but here are some tips that can save you from future attacks and protect your data.
- Keep your passwords strong (I know you might be tired of hearing this but it is really important)
- Change all your passwords regularly
- Don’t keep your passwords in a pattern (eg. AirIndia@123, Dominos@123). The attacker might notice the pattern.
- When you pay somewhere with your card there you may notice a small checkbox of “save your card details”. Always uncheck that so your card details won’t be saved and hence won’t be breached.
Conclusion
Cyberattacks have been reported frequently by different companies and are posing a serious threat to individuals' privacy. The rise in digitalization across the globe has led to an increase in cyber crimes and cyber attacks by criminals.
Reference
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