Cathay Promises… ??? for Mad Hack Victims

After failing to inform victims of a major security breach in which the sensitive personal information of nearly 9.4 million passengers was exposed by hackers, the airlines Chairman John Slosar this week told lawmakers that the airline would enact a series of inflight service upgrades and special offers to help make up for mishandling customers’ credit card and passport details.

Initially, Cathay Pacific  management seemed intent on denying the hacking incident entirely. Now, in a response to lawmakers, airline executives are touting service upgrades, special offers and inflight perks to help make up for exposing passenger’s sensitive information.

The carrier has now admitted that this spring’s cyberattack was far more serious than previously reported. Although the airline first claimed hackers had not managed to access customers personal information, it has now been revealed that the passport, credit card and travel details of as many as 9.4 million passengers may have been exposed between March and April of this year.

The airline originally offered a rather dubious sounding reason for now informing victims until months later. Officials said they were simply too busy to let customers know that they are likely at much greater risk of fraud and identity theft.

“Cathay was subject to further attacks which were at their most intense in March, April and May but continued thereafter,” the airline said in a statement earlier in the week. “These ongoing attacks meant that internal and external IT security resources had to remain focused on containment and prevention … The investigation was complex, longer than what we would have wished, and we would have liked to have been able to provide this information sooner.”

Later in the week, Cathay Chairman John Slosar told law makers in Hong Kong that the airline had a plan to make things right. Although he was making an apparently earnest attempt at damage control, his statements sounded much more like the kickoff of a seasonal advertising campaign than an apology.

“We understand that people are disappointed and upset by this event,” Slosar told regulators in comments first reported by Bloomberg. “We want to make some particularly exciting offers that people can take advantage of going forward.”

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