Cathay Pacific cyberattack far worse than thought after airline admits facing intense hack for more than three months

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2172796/cathay-pacific-cyberattack-far-worse-previously-thought

By Danny Lee
with additional reporting
by Karen Zhang, Alvin Lum and Simone McCarthy
South China Morning Post
12 November, 2018

A major cyberattack that saw the data of 9.4 million Cathay Pacific 
Airways customers stolen by hackers was far worse than the airline has 
previously admitted.

Rather than the "suspicious activity" it said it had discovered on its 
billion-dollar computer network in March, the carrier revealed on Monday 
that it had been the target of an intense attack lasting more than three 
months.

Cathay made the shock admission in a written submission to Hong Kong 
lawmakers ahead of a committee hearing to question the airline's 
management team on Wednesday morning.

Such was the intensity of the attack, Cathay said internal and external IT 
security experts had to focus solely on containment and prevention 
throughout March, April and May.

The airline also revealed it had spent HK$1 billion (US$128 million) over 
three years on IT infrastructure and security, but it was not enough to 
stop what it called "sophisticated attackers" repeatedly targeting and 
breaching its system.

[...]



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