SITA Passenger Service System (SITA PSS), a communications and IT service provider for 90 percent of the world’s airline companies, suffered a massive data breach. The company calls the attack that targeted its U.S servers in Atlanta a “highly sophisticated attack.”
Singapore Airlines, a company that uses SITA’s services, reported that over 580,000 customers were affected. The total number of affected customers could well over be in the millions.
Edna Ayme-Yahil, SITA’s spokeswoman didn’t disclose what type of data was compromised, although she did inform Threatpost that “it does include some personal data of airline passengers.” “Many airlines have issued public statements confirming what types of data have been affected in relation to their passengers,” told Yahil.
Yahil also said that airline members of the Star Alliance, including Lufthansa, New Zealand Air, and Singapore Airlines, along with OneWorld members Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, and Malaysia Air have started communicating with its at-risk users. Malaysia Air had already reported being affected by a data breach through its Twitter account earlier.