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A major Australian airline has announced a significant data breach, exposing the personal information of millions of people.

Getting into it: In an announcement, Qantas Airlines confirmed they were targeted in a significant breach that compromised the personal information of up to six million customers. The breach occurred via a third-party customer service platform used by one of the airline’s call centers. Qantas said it detected “unusual activity” on the platform earlier in the week and took “immediate steps” to contain the intrusion. While no credit card, financial, or passport data was accessed, the exposed information includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent flyer numbers.

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Qantas said it was working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and independent forensic experts to determine the full extent of the breach. In a statement, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson said, “Our customers trust us with their personal information and we take that responsibility seriously.”

Although Qantas has not publicly attributed the attack to any specific group, cybersecurity experts say the incident matches the known tactics of the hacker collective Scattered Spider. This group is known for using unorthodox methods, including impersonating IT staff to trick employees into granting access or bypassing multi-factor authentication. Scattered Spider has already been linked to other high-profile attacks against US companies, including two major casinos in Las Vegas.

This all comes as the FBI has issued a heightened warning about Scattered Spider. In a recent warning, the FBI said they had observed them “expanding their targeting to include the airline sector.”

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