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Air India data breach: SITA says cyber attackers ‘accessed some systems for 22 days

New Delhi- After several data breaches, here is another at Air India. It was not a one-off incident but a sustained and highly sophisticated cyber-attack, lasting over 3 weeks or 22 days at SITA’s passenger service system (PSS) data center in the United States.

The sources suggest that the customer data of around 45 lakh passengers stored over a decade consist of- names, date of birth, passport information, contacts, card details, frequent flyer, and more. 

One of the leading air transport communications and IT companies stated the data breach affected its passenger’s personal data including Air India. 

Moreover, SITA confirms that – its passenger processing service was the victim of a highly sophisticated but limited attack that affected personal data stored on servers in SITA PSS’s data center in Atlanta, US, Georgia. The investigation suggests that the accounts were being accessed for around 22 days. The moment the information got confirmed it took immediate action to contact our customers and all related units and organizations. 

Edna Ayme Yahil, SITA’s global head of communication- told that the investigations are still ongoing. 

Air India is the customer of SITA PSS. It was offered with the details of the exact type of data compromised and involves personal data of several airlines with Air India. 

They didn’t expose all the details due to security reasons, and SITA is in association with leading external cyber experts and forensics. It is constantly in touch and sharing all the technical information, procedures, and indicators used by the cyber attack. 

In the recent statement, SITA said that cyber attackers became more active and sophisticated with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic when security is the main concern. And SITA acted swiftly and initiated the right containment measures to solve and control the whole issue. 

Lastly, the breach involved the data registered between 26 August 2011 and 03 February 2021 including ticket information, frequent flyer information, and more.

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