Tabby Wilson
BBC News, Sydney
ReutersQantas is contacting customers after the cyber attack targets their third-party customer service platform.
On June 30, Australian Airlines detected “abnormal activity” on the platform used by its contact center to store data for 6 million people, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and frequent flyer numbers.
Qantas took “immediate steps and included the system” after the violation was discovered, a statement said.
The company is still investigating the full scope of the breach, but says it is expecting the percentage of data stolen to be “important”.
It assures the public that passport details, credit card details and personal financial information are not saved in the damaged system and that no frequent flyer accounts, passwords or PIN numbers are compromised.
Qantas has notified Australian federal police, violations, Australian Cybersecurity Centre and Australian Information Commissioner’s Office.
Vanessa Hudson, Qantas Group CEO, said: “We sincerely apologize to our customers and we recognize the uncertainty that this will lead to.”
She asked the customer to have any concerns, please call the dedicated support line and confirm that there is no impact on Qantas’ operations or the safety of the airline.
The cyber attack is the latest in a series of Australian data breaches this year, with Australians and nine media suffering huge leaks over the past few months.
In March 2025, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) released statistics showing that 2024 was the year with the worst data breaches in Australia since the record in 2018.
“The trends we have observed suggest that the threat of data breaches, especially through the efforts of malicious actors, is unlikely to decrease,” Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said in an OAIC statement.
Kind MS urges businesses and government agencies to strengthen security measures and data protection, and stresses that both the private and public sectors are vulnerable to cyber attacks.
