Virgin Frequent Flyers locked out of accounts after numbers exposed in Medibank hack
Thousands of Virgin frequent flyers have found their accounts locked following the Medibank hack, after the airline was notified some numbers could have been compromised.
"After being notified late yesterday, Virgin Australia is acting to protect a small number of Velocity Frequent Flyer membership numbers which may have been compromised as part of the Medibank cyber crime event," a spokesperson said.
"As a precautionary measure, we have locked the accounts of impacted members. We are notifying impacted members this morning and are in the process of creating new membership numbers for them.
READ MORE: Medibank hacker demands $15 million ransom, publishes more intimate data
A number of Virgin Frequent Flyer members have had their account numbers compromised in the Medibank cyber-attack. Virgin Australia
"Keeping the accounts of our members safe from unauthorised activity is our priority and we apologise for any inconvenience caused."
It's believed about 2800 customers have been affected.
Members who find their accounts locked will still be able to travel, access Virgin lounges and earn points.
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Affected members will still be able to access lounges while their accounts are locked. Virgin Australia
But they won't be able to redeem those points, or log in to their account online while new membership numbers are generated.
It's expected they'll have full access to their accounts again in the coming days.
It comes after the hackers posted more sensitive health information online, this time alongside a demand for $15 million - equating to one US dollar for each of the 9.7 million people whose data was exposed.
Medibank has followed expert and government advice and refused to pay any ransom.
READ MORE: How to handle the stress of having your data exposed in a hack
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