Cathay Pacific under fire from 15 countries on data breach, bosses reveal as they address ‘one of Hong Kong airline’s worst crises’
- Top executives face lawmakers over hack that has affected 9.4 million passengers, and say there was ‘no attempt to cover anything up’
Cathay Pacific Airways on Wednesday said it was facing one of the worst crises in its history as the airline revealed it was being questioned by 27 regulators from 15 jurisdictions over a data breach that has affected 9.4 million passengers.
The disclosure came as top executives from the airline underwent a grilling in the Hong Kong legislature during which they said the majority of affected passengers were from outside the city.
Lifting the lid on the extent of the impact, the executives said 245,000 Hong Kong identity card holders and 55,000 passport holders in the city had been affected. They did not profile the passengers overseas.
Lawmakers called Cathay “pathetic” and accused the carrier of covering up the breach after the airline took seven months to make it public. The incident took place in March but was only announced on October 24.
But Cathay said there had been “no attempt to cover anything up”. It said several internal deficiencies and errors would be resolved.
Legislators demanded compensation for affected customers.