A huge data breach has leaked up to 9.4 million Cathay Pacific passengers information, including passport numbers and credit card information.
The airline 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 CVV were accessed in the breach, according to Reuters.
“We are very sorry for any concern this data security event may cause our passengers,” Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Rupert Hogg said in a statement.
“We acted immediately to contain the event, commence a thorough investigation with the assistance of a leading cybersecurity firm, and to further strengthen our IT security measures.”
Hogg also said the airline was contacting affected passengers with extra information on how to protect their details.
The airline said it first discovered “suspicious activity” on its network back in March and had confirmed personal information had been accessed by May.
It is not yet known how many Australian customers have been affected, according to News Corp, considering the airline flies regularly from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Cairns.
The airline is urging passengers to change their passwords and monitor their accounts for suspicious activity.
Passengers who are worried they have been affected by the data hack can contact Cathay Pacific via an online inquiry form. More information on the data breach can be found on a dedicated page on its website.
The breach comes a month after British Airways revealed customer data, including personal and financial details of hundreds of thousands of customers, had been stolen from their website.
