Cathay Pacific Airways says data of 9.4 million passengers accessed

[BENGALURU] Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said on Wednesday that data of about 9.4 million passengers of Cathay and its unit Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited had been accessed without authorisation.

Cathay said 860,000 passport numbers, about 245,000 Hong Kong identity card numbers, 403 expired credit card numbers and 27 credit card numbers with no card verification value (CVV) were accessed in the breach.

The company said it initially discovered suspicious activity on its network in March 2018 and investigations in early May confirmed that certain personal data had been accessed.

Accessed data includes names of passengers, their nationalities, dates of birth, telephone numbers, email and physical addresses, passport numbers, identity card numbers and historical travel information, the company said in a statement.

It added that the Hong Kong Police had been notified about the breach and that there is no evidence that any personal information has been misused.

REUTERS