Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific faces first collective legal action over massive data breach, with 200 customers poised to make claims
- Potential claimants mainly from Hong Kong, some from mainland China and some from Britain, lawyer says
- Airline is also under close scrutiny by city’s government, with threat of punishment if it fails to cooperate with privacy watchdog
Cathay Pacific Airways is facing its first collective legal action in the wake of a massive data breach after about 200 customers expressed their intention to make claims over the leak, the Post has learned.
Hong Kong’s flagship carrier is also under tight scrutiny by the local government, with acting chief executive Matthew Cheung Kin-chung threatening on Tuesday to punish the airline if it failed to cooperate with the city’s privacy watchdog.
Cathay Pacific divulged last Wednesday that – in what the privacy commission described as Hong Kong’s largest scale of data leak so far – personal details belonging to 9.4 million customers had been illegally accessed. The revelation came months after the breach was discovered in March and confirmed in early May.
Cheung, who spoke before chairing Tuesday’s Executive Council meeting on behalf of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, said the government was highly concerned about the breach.
Law firm offers group legal action overseas against Cathay data leak
“If Cathay Pacific is not cooperative, the [privacy] commissioner is entitled to take legal action under the ordinance, which carries penalties,” he said. “[Cathay] has to obey the instructions and fully cooperate with our investigation.”