British Airways slapped with $25.9M fine in UK for 2018 cyberattack affecting 400,000+
British Airways allegedly neglected to detect the cyber attack until more than two months after initial breach
A United Kingdom information commission has slapped British Airways with a fine of more than $25.9 million for allegedly failing to protect roughly 400,000 employees’ and customers’ personal information prior to a cyberattack in 2018, the agency recently announced.
The Information Commissioner’s Office, or ICO, said Friday that British Airways must pay up 20 million British pounds, or approximately $25,986,000 after investigators determined the airline “was processing a significant amount of personal data without adequate security measures in place,” according to the announcement.
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When it became the victim of a cyberattack in June of 2018 – which compromised the information belonging to an estimated 429,612 staff members and customers – British Airways neglected to detect the data breach until more than two months later, the ICO said. The compromised data included names, addresses, and credit card information.
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On Monday, a British Airways spokesperson told FOX Business the company alerted its customers as soon as it became aware of the breach, but was "sorry we fell short of our customers’ expectations."
A British Airways Boeing 747 jumbo jet taking off from Los Angeles International Airport in 2010. (iStock)
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"We are pleased the ICO recognizes that we have made considerable improvements to the security of our systems since the attack and that we fully co-operated with its investigation," the spokesperson said.
The ICO found that the cyberattack could have been prevented if the airline had taken the necessary security measures regarding its customers’ data.
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“People entrusted their personal details to BA and BA failed to take adequate measures to keep those details secure,” Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a statement included in Friday’s press release. “When organizations take poor decisions around people’s personal data, that can have a real impact on people’s lives.”