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Cathay Pacific Data Breach Hits 9.4 Million People (zdnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the here-we-go-again dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific informed the Hong Kong stock exchange of a data breach late on Wednesday night that could affect 9.4 million people. In a notice, the airline said it would reach out to members of its Marco Polo Club, Asia Miles, and registered users. Otherwise, people who are worried about whether they have been hit should fill in an enquiry form. Cathay said that passenger details including name, nationality, date of birth, phone number, email address, passport number, identity card number, frequent flyer membership number, customer service remarks, and historical travel information could have been accessed. In its statement [PDF] to the exchange, Cathay said 860,000 passport numbers and approximately 245,000 Hong Kong identity card numbers were accessed. A small number of credit card numbers, 403 in total, were accessed, as well as 27 cards with no CVV. Don't worry, the airline is "offering ID monitoring services" and "free credit monitoring services" to those impacted...

20 comments

  1. Who? When? Where? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What?

  2. Their enquiry form is useless by DeathToBill · · Score: 1

    If you're not a member of one of their clubs, all you can enter is your name and the email address they have on file for you. Too bad if you don't have access to that email any more...

    --
    Slashdot - News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, in ISO-8859-1 Has just realised that beta makes this signature redundant
    1. Re:Their enquiry form is useless by thsths · · Score: 1

      So if you are worried that they lost your data, you could give them your data again, in the hope that they will not lose it this time?

      Does anybody else think that you would have to be quite naive to do that?

  3. Second Chance by Pimpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just in case you weren't caught out in the first data breach, you now have the opportunity of providing personal data through the enquiry form for a subsequent breach.

  4. Let's play! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Marco?

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Let's play! by houghi · · Score: 1

      The only way to win is not to play.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    2. Re:Let's play! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      The only way to win is not to play.

      Polo?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re: Let's play! by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      Polio

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    4. Re: Let's play! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Polio

      weak.....

      There is a terrible pun in my reply, and I am going to hell for it

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    5. Re:Let's play! by dimethylxanthine · · Score: 1

      Pollo

    6. Re:Let's play! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Pollo

      Arroz con?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  5. Breaches regular occurance now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Better get used to it, breaches seem to be a regular occurrence these days. You would think businesses would learn from others mistakes but apparently not.

    1. Re:Breaches regular occurance now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "hard working regular americans" ... you realize this is a Hong Kong based company. Not everything is about America.

    2. Re:Breaches regular occurance now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "hard working regular americans" ... you realize this is a Hong Kong based company. Not everything is about America.

      Besides 9 million is only about 0.0000001% of the population over there.

  6. Serious, but not terrible by houghi · · Score: 3, Informative

    The main thing is passport number and identity card number. Both can be canceled easy where I am. Yes, it would cost a bit of time and money, but nothing to worry about.

    In Belgium you can call 00800 2123 2123 for free inside Belgium or +32 2 518 2123 if the 0800 number does not work.

    That way the abuse is prevented.
    Companies that use Belgian ID cards will use https://www.checkdoc.be/CheckD... to verify if an ID is valid. If the card is not valid, then the transaction (like opening a bank account, renting a house) will be prevented.

    Belfian ID cards have a chip with information that you can read when you buy a cheap card reader. Reader software is open source : https://eid.belgium.be/en You can compile it yourself. Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, RedHat, CentOS en openSUSE have downloadable packages or it is available in the repos.

    Knowing what to do if yourt identification papers are compromised is a good-to-know thing. And not just the cancel part. What do you need to do afterwards?

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:Serious, but not terrible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm only interested in how many will go to jail and for how many years.

  7. There should be repercussions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope Cathay gets a stern warning not to do it more than four or five times! Though maybe we should set an example of them...a warning AND a finger wagging!

  8. Wooo by ChoGGi · · Score: 2

    Time for another round of identity theft!