2 hours Ago By Carla Mascarenhas
Qantas says passport data could have been accessed after two third-party airport contractors in India made unauthorised changes to customer bookings. or signup to continue reading The changes were aimed at stealing frequent flyer points, Qantas said. Qantas said the issue arose from its ground handler company in India, India SATS, impacting 800 Qantas bookings in July and August this year.
The contractors made changes to frequent flyer details through partner airline booking systems in an attempt to redirect points to a new account they controlled. "As part of the access they had to do their job, they may have had access to some customers' passport details," a Qantas spokesperson told ACM. "There's no evidence this has been used in any way.
" The employees have since been suspended for inappropriate conduct. The Qantas spokesperson said the incident was not a "cyber hack or data theft" but a case of "two rogue employees abusing their position to fraudulently steal frequent flyer points". The activity was stopped in August with affected bookings remedied and points provided back, the spokesperson said.
"We are not aware of any current bookings being impacted." Qantas has restricted the ways frequent flyer details could be changed through partner airlines after the incident. The airline's profits have taken a , falling 28.
3 per cent to $1.25 billion in August. Carla Mascarenhas is the NSW correspondent covering breaking news, state politics and investigations.
She is based in Sydney. Contact her on carla.mascarenhas@austcommunitymedia.
com.au Carla Mascarenhas is the NSW correspondent covering breaking news, state politics and investigations. She is based in Sydney.
Contact her on [email protected].
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