Qantas Shares Drop 2.2% After Cyberattack Exposes 6 Million Customers

Qantas shares fell 2.2% after the Australian airline disclosed that a cyberattack may have accessed the data of six million customers. The attack, which targeted a contact center in Manila, was discovered on Monday after the airline detected unusual activity on a third-party customer service platform. Qantas has since confirmed that all systems are secure.

The compromised data includes customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent flier numbers. Qantas expects that a significant proportion of the six million customer records on the platform are compromised. However, the airline assured customers that credit card and passport details, as well as passwords, were not accessed.

Qantas is investigating whether the cybercriminal group Scattered Spider is responsible for the attack. This group has been linked to hacks of major companies and has recently expanded its targets to include airlines and their third-party IT providers.

In response to the breach, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson has apologized to customers and assured them that the airline is working closely with the Federal Government’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and independent specialized cybersecurity experts to address the issue.

The cyberattack is a setback for both Qantas and Hudson, who took over as the airline’s CEO in late 2023 following the abrupt departure of her predecessor Alan Joyce. Joyce resigned after a series of scandals at Qantas, including selling tickets to flights the airline had already canceled. The airline was also criticized for poor reliability, job cuts, and alleged anti-competitive behavior.

Hudson has worked hard to restore Qantas’s reputation since taking over as CEO. In May 2024, the Australian Federal Court ordered the airline to pay 100 million Australian dollars in penalties for the “ghost flights” incident, as well as up to 450 Australian dollars to each of the more than 86,000 affected customers.

Despite these challenges, Qantas’s business is proving strong as travel recovers after the COVID pandemic. The airline reported $595 million in post-tax profit for the six months ending December, a 6% year-on-year increase. Hudson has won praise for the airline’s financial turnaround, as well as for a focus on rebuilding trust with employees, customers, and regulators.