Tag Archive for: lakh

Air India Reports Data Breach; 45 Lakh Passengers’ Data Compromised

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Air India had received the first notification of the cyber attack on 25th February

The breach involved personal data of users registered between 26th August 2011 and 3rd February 2021

While the airline says it is taking remedial actions, the company has advised passengers to change passwords wherever applicable to ensure safety of their personal data

Air India Reports Data Breach; 45 Lakh passengers’ Data Compromised

A cyber-attack on the servers of national air carrier Air India resulted in a massive data breach and affected around 45 Lakh customers of the airline, it informed on Friday ( May 21). Leaked details, including passport and credit card information of these passengers, were compromised in the attack, Air India said in a statement.

“As part of our commitment, we would like to inform you that SITA PSS, our data processor of the passenger service system, recently notified Air India of a data security breach involving personal data of certain passengers, including yours,” the airlines said in a communication to the passengers whose data got stolen.

This incident affected around 4,500,000 data subjects in the world. Air India had received the first notification in this regard on 25th February. The company clarified that the identity of the affected users was only clear to them by 25th March and 5th April respectively. “The present communication is an effort to apprise of accurate state of facts as on date and to supplement our general announcement of 19th March 2021 initially made via our website,” said the statement.

The breach involved personal data of users registered between 26th August 2011 and 3rd February 2021, with details that included name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, Star Alliance and Air India frequent flyer data as well as credit cards data. However the passwords of frequent flyers were not  affected, said the statement. The airline also informed that credit card data like CVV/CVC numbers are not held by Air India data processors.

The company is currently investigating the data security incident. It did mention the exact nature of the attack. The airline is securing the compromised servers and engaging external specialists for data security incidents. Further, it stated that…

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Nearly 12 lakh cyber security incidents observed in 2020: MHA

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In response to a parliamentary question, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) revealed that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) tracked 11,58,208 cybersecurity incidents in 2020. This is a sharp rise from the 3,94,499 incidents that occurred in 2019. In a different answer to a Lok Sabha query, the government said that CERT-in received 26,121 reports of Indian websites being hacked last year, of which 59 websites belonged to central and state governments.

For more info on some of the major cyberattacks that occurred in 2020, read our earlier story: 2020 was a good year for cyber criminals, a bad one for financial and payments security

MHA did not provide any further details on the cyberattacks but lists several initiatives taken by the government to prevent cyber attacks:

  1. CERT-In issues alerts and advisories to concerned entities on the latest cyber threats
  2. The government has issued guidelines for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) regarding their responsibility for securing government applications and infrastructure.
  3. A Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) has been formulated for implementation in all government entities.
  4. All government websites and applications are audited with respect to cybersecurity, both before and after hosting.
  5. The government is operating Cyber Swachhta Kendra, a botnet cleaning and malware analysis centre that provides tools to detect malicious programs and remove them.
  6. The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) has been set up to generate awareness of existing and potential cybersecurity threats.

The government was responding to a Lok Sabha query by BJP MP Pratima Bhoumik.

Full question and answer

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether there has been an increase in cyber attacks in the country;

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(b) if so, the details of cyber attacks reported during the last two years;

(c) whether there are reports of cyber attack into systems of the companies which manage power supply and also into the system of a company which is supplying COVID-19 Vaccine across the country; and

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government in this…

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