Personal Details Of Thousands Of Qantas Passengers Exposed Due To Glitch

Personal details of thousands of Qantas customers were made public on Wednesday via the airline’s app, in a major glitch. Many frequent fliers posted on social media that they were seeing other passengers’ names, accounts, flight plans, points, and boarding passes, Guardian reported. 

One user wrote on X, ”Hey @Qantas, I’m pretty sure whatever app issue this warning is about is not entirely resolved because every time I refresh I’ve got someone else’s name, point balance, and status…”

Hey @Qantas I’m pretty sure whatever app issue this warning is about is not entirely resolved because every time I refresh I’ve got someone else’s name, point balance, and status… pic.twitter.com/gR3AG7NqbC

— El Yobo (@elyobo) May 1, 2024

A Qantas spokesperson said current investigations indicate that it was caused by a technology issue and may have been related to recent system changes.

”We apologise to customers impacted by the issue with the Qantas app this morning, which has now been resolved. Current investigations indicate that it was caused by a technology issue and may have been related to recent system changes. At this stage, there is no indication of a cyber security incident,” the carrier said in a statement.

”The issue was isolated to the Qantas app with some frequent flyers able to see the travel information of other customers, including name, upcoming flight details, points balance and status. No further personal or financial information was shared and customers would not have been able to transfer or use the Qantas Points of other frequent flyers. We’re not aware of any customers travelling with incorrect boarding passes,” the statement added.

In a late afternoon announcement, the airline said the Qantas app was ”currently stable and operating normally following an issue with its homepage today.”

The Qantas app is currently stable and operating normally following an issue with its homepage today.

There were two periods today where some customers were shown the flight and booking details of other frequent flyers.

We sincerely apologise to all customers impacted and… https://t.co/InzUb1UnkQ

— Qantas (@Qantas) May 1, 2024

Qantas recommended that customers log out and log in to their Qantas Frequent Flyer account on the Qantas App.

Major cyber attacks in recent years have raised concerns about the protection of Australians’ personal data. In November 2022, Australia’s largest private health insurer Medibank said hackers had accessed the data of 9.7 million current and former customers, including medical records, as per asn AFP report.