Qantas to face scrutiny after personal data of 5.7 million customers released, minister says

Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Tony Burke insists Qantas will be held accountable after the personal information of 5.7 million of its customers was released onto the dark web by hackers.

Qantas was one of 40 companies caught up in the hack, alongside the likes of Disney and IKEA when the hacker group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters stole almost 1 billion records of customer data from cloud technology company Salesforce in July.

The hackers did not break into the Salesforce system, but instead called the IT desks of the 40 companies and posed as legitimate employees.

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In the case of Qantas, it is believed a call centre in the Philippines was targeted by the hackers.

Burke told ABC Radio National this morning that despite the data being released in a location outside of Australia, Qantas would not escape scrutiny for the massive breach.

"You can outsource parts of your business, but you don't outsource the law," he said.

"I can guarantee that our authorities will use all the laws available to them, as I said when the breach was first reported, and there was some conversation around the fact that it was an outsourced company where the breach had occurred.

"That doesn't get you off the hook on your obligations."

The information of Qantas passengers believed to have been released includes date of birth, emails and frequent flyer numbers.

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Burke said the personal data released was different for each customer.

"There are some people where it's phone numbers, there are some people where it's addresses, and there will be some people where they get a cold call from somebody who sounds like they're from Qantas, who sounds like they're from a company where they've got enough information that you think it's legit," he said.

This includes a string of politicians' home addresses and phone numbers, Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness confirmed in Senate estimates last week.

"There has been a threat actor who has claimed to steal data… Qantas have notified all those who are impacted, and it may be that the threat actor has the data at this stage, the operational experts will, under normal circumstances, look to verify and that would be a question for our operational organisations," she said.

It is not believed credit card details or passport numbers were compromised in the breach.

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Qantas has been contacted for comment, and previously told 9news.com.au: "Ensuring continued vigilance and providing ongoing support for our customers remain our top priorities following our cyber incident in early July.

"We continue to offer a 24/7 support line and specialist identity protection advice to affected customers and through the ongoing injunction we obtained through the NSW Supreme Court we have legal protections in place to prevent the stolen data being accessed or released."

Burke sent a general warning to all Australians to remain vigilant to the threat of cyberattacks.

"What they are trying to do is to get more information from you. And the very simple piece of advice, if you're getting a call you're not expecting, hang up, call back through the official line," he said.

"These sorts of styles of attack will increase.

"We're used to cyber being something that's done at the technical level, but with the improvements in artificial intelligence, increasingly, you'll hear a friendly voice, sometimes a familiar voice, on the other end of the phone, and when it's a call you're not expecting, hang up, call back."

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