British Airways Faces Major Backlash Over Data Breach

British Airways is in major damage control following revelations of a massive hack in which 380,000 customers had their credit card information stolen.

British Airways CEO Alex Cruz has apologized to the company’s worldwide customers following the breach during a two-week period this summer that left customers vulnerable to financial fraud.

“We know that the information that has been stolen is name, address, email address, credit card information; that would be credit card number, expiration date and the three-letter (security) code on the back of the credit card,” Cruz told the BBC.

Cruz called it a “very sophisticated, malicious criminal attack” and said the company is “100 per cent committed” to compensating its customers, which could prove costly down the line.

In a story in The Economist, it was stated that details gleaned by hackers “is more than enough information to steal money from bank and credit card accounts.”

BA says the data stolen was from transactions over a 15-day period between Aug. 21 and Sept. 5 and not from saved credit card data.

In a story on The Independent website, it was stated that travellers who booked British Airways’ code share flights through other airlines, such as American, did not have their details stolen.

In a story posted on the Telegraph UK website, CensorNet chief technology officer Richard Walters said customers who bought tickets in that time period need to act quickly by checking their statements and notifying their banks of potential problems.

“Criminals will try to exploit customers in the aftermath of the hack, so customers should be especially wary of scam emails that use credentials that could have been taken from this breach,” Walters said in the Telegraph story.

Airline officials also said the situation has been resolve and that the company’s app and website are now functioning normally.

Still, it’s a massive black eye for British Airways.

Air Canada had an issue of its own last week, but not nearly as widespread as the British Airways breach. Air Canada officials said some 20,000 people who use the Air Canada app may have had their data “improperly accessed” between Aug. 22 and Aug. 24.

Air Canada app users have been contacted and told to reset their passwords.