[BreachExchange] International airline fined £500,000 for failing to secure its customers’ personal data

[Destry Winant]

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2020/03/international-airline-fined-500-000-for-failing-to-secure-its-customers-personal-data/

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Cathay Pacific
Airways Limited £500,000 for failing to protect the security of its
customers’ personal data.

Between October 2014 and May 2018 Cathay Pacific’s computer systems
lacked appropriate security measures which led to customers’ personal
details being exposed, 111,578 of whom were from the UK, and
approximately 9.4 million more worldwide.

The airline’s failure to secure its systems resulted in the
unauthorised access to their passengers’ personal details including:
names, passport and identity details, dates of birth, postal and email
addresses, phone numbers and historical travel information.

Cathay Pacific became aware of suspicious activity in March 2018 when
its database was subjected to a brute force attack, where numerous
passwords or phrases are submitted with the hope of eventually
guessing correctly. The incident led Cathay Pacific to employ a
cybersecurity firm, and they subsequently reported the incident to the
ICO.

The ICO found Cathay Pacific’s systems were entered via a server
connected to the internet and malware was installed to harvest data. A
catalogue of errors were found during the ICO’s investigation
including: back-up files that were not password protected; unpatched
internet-facing servers; use of operating systems that were no longer
supported by the developer and inadequate anti-virus protection.

Steve Eckersley, ICO Director of Investigations, said:

“People rightly expect when they provide their personal details to a
company, that those details will be kept secure to ensure they are
protected from any potential harm or fraud. That simply was not the
case here.

“This breach was particularly concerning given the number of basic
security inadequacies across Cathay Pacific’s system, which gave easy
access to the hackers. The multiple serious deficiencies we found fell
well below the standard expected. At its most basic, the airline
failed to satisfy four out of five of the National Cyber Security
Centre’s basic Cyber Essentials guidance.

“Under data protection law organisations must have appropriate
security measures and robust procedures in place to ensure that any
attempt to infiltrate computer systems is made as difficult as
possible.”

Strengthened UK and European data protection laws came into force in
2018, however due to the timing of these incidents the ICO
investigated this case under the Data Protection Act 1998. The ICO
found
the breach to be a serious contravention of Principle 7 of the Data
Protection Act 1998, which states that appropriate technical and
organisational measures must be taken against unauthorised or unlawful
processing of personal data.

In addition to acting promptly in seeking expert assistance from a
leading cyber security firm, Cathay Pacific also issued appropriate
information to affected individuals and co-operated with the ICO’s
investigation.

Full details of the investigation can be found in the Monetary Penalty Notice.

Notes to Editors

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Data Protection (Monetary Penalties)
Order 2010, paragraph 18 of the monetary penalty notice is varied as
follows:

a) The earliest date of the unauthorised access to Cathay Pacific’s
systems was 14 October 2014, not 15 October 2014.

b) The earliest known date of unauthorised access to personal data was
7 February 2015, not 2 July 2015.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent
regulator for data protection and information rights law, upholding
information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by
public bodies and data privacy for individuals.
The ICO has specific responsibilities set out in the Data Protection
Act 2018 (DPA2018), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR) and Privacy and Electronic Communications
Regulations 2003 (PECR).
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a recent data
protection law which came into being in the UK from 25 May 2018. Its
provisions are included in the Data Protection Act 2018. The Act also
includes measures related to wider data protection reforms in areas
not covered by the GDPR, such as law enforcement and security. The
UK’s decision to leave the EU will not affect the commencement of the
GDPR.
Due to the timing of the incidents in this investigation, a civil
monetary penalty has been issued under the previous legislation, the
Data Protection Act 1998. The maximum financial penalty in civil cases
under former laws is £500,000.
Under past and current law, the ICO can take action to change the
behaviour of organisations and individuals that collect, use and keep
personal information. This includes criminal prosecution, non-criminal
enforcement and audit.
Since 25 May 2018, the ICO has the power to impose a civil monetary
penalty (CMP) on a data controller of up to £17 million (20m Euro) or
4% of global turnover.
Any monetary penalty is paid into the Treasury’s Consolidated Fund and
is not kept by ICO.
To report a concern to the ICO go to ico.org.uk/concerns.