Cathay Pacific cyberattack affects 10 million passengers

Hackers have stolen the private details of 9.4 million Cathay Pacific customers in the most damaging cyberattack to strike an airline.

The data breach against the Hong Kong based carrier involved sensitive material such as name, birth dates, phone numbers, email and passport numbers.

Hackers were also able to steal information about how and when customers travelled.

Cathay Pacific discovered the hack during a review of IT procedures, reports the Independent.

It emerged someone had broken into the passenger information records that held data on 9.4 million people.

The airline said there is “no evidence that any personal information has been misused”.

“We are very sorry for any concern this data security event may cause our passengers,” said Rupert Hogg, Cathay Pacific’s CEO.

“We acted immediately to contain the event, commence a thorough investigation with the assistance of a leading cyber security firm, and to further strengthen our IT security measures.”

It is not known how many Australian customers have been affected.

Cathay Pacific flies from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Cairns.

The carrier said no information had been abused and passwords had not been stolen.

It is the latest cyberattack on an airline and follows smaller data breaches against British Airways, Delta Airlines and Canada Airlines.