• Qantas confirms a cyberincident affecting the personal data of 6 million customers.
• The breach involved names, email addresses, and frequent flyer numbers but not financial information.
• Immediate actions were taken to secure affected systems with no operational impacts reported.

Australia's Qantas Airways has confirmed that a cyber incident at one of its contact centres has compromised the personal data of approximately 6 million customers. The breach occurred when a hacker targeted a third-party customer service platform, accessing sensitive information such as customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent flyer numbers. Financial details, including credit card information and passport numbers, were not part of the compromised data, according to statements made by Qantas officials.

Upon detection of "unusual activity" on June 30, Qantas took immediate steps to secure its systems. The airline emphasized that there has been no impact on its operations or safety. Qantas stated it is still investigating the full extent of the breach and noted that it expected a significant amount of data may have been stolen. The company's CEO Vanessa Hudson publicly apologized for the incident, acknowledging the ensuing uncertainty for affected customers.

Qantas has notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as well as the Australian Federal Police, due to the criminal nature of the incident. The breach comes amidst a wave of data compromises reported in Australia, raising concerns about the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures across various sectors. Experts suggest this breach highlights the ongoing vulnerabilities that organizations face regarding data security.