The share price of international airline Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. plunged on Thursday after the carrier announced that the personal data of 9.4 million passengers had been stolen by computer hackers.
Cathay Pacific, which is based in Hong Kong, said that the data breach included the passport numbers of 860,000 people, as well as the Hong Kong identity card numbers of 245,000 people. The airline also said that the hackers accessed 403 credit card numbers from people around the world.
News of the massive data breach sent shares of Cathay Pacific down 6.8% on Thursday to $1.65 Canadian, their lowest level in nine years. That compared with a 2% fall for the benchmark Hang Seng Index on Thursday.
The company said it discovered suspicious activity on its computer network in March of this year and investigations in early May confirmed that the personal data of passengers had been accessed, including credit cards.
It’s not immediately clear who was behind the data breach or what the information might be used for. Cathay Pacific said the Hong Kong Police had been notified about the data breach. The hacker attack comes as the airline is undergoing a turnaround designed to cut costs and increase revenue after back-to-back years of losses.
