SITA Confirms Passenger Data Breach

SITA, a leading global provider of air transport data solutions, has recently acknowledged a data security incident involving passenger information.

Cyberattack Details

The company released a statement on Thursday confirming it was the target of a cyberattack. This attack resulted in unauthorized access to certain passenger data held on its servers located in the U.S.

The breach was detected on February 24th, prompting immediate notification to impacted airline partners.

SITA's Role in Aviation IT

SITA is a major player in the aviation IT sector, serving approximately 90% of the world’s airlines. These airlines utilize SITA’s Horizon passenger service system for critical functions like managing reservations, ticketing processes, and aircraft departures.

Data Breach Scope and Affected Airlines

A spokesperson for SITA, Edna Ayme-Yahil, indicated that the specifics of the compromised data remain under investigation. The incident’s impact extends to numerous airlines globally, not limited to those within the United States.

Several airlines have been directly informed by SITA, including Malaysia Airlines, Finnair, Singapore Airlines, and Jeju Air of South Korea, all of whom have issued statements regarding the breach.

Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand, and Lufthansa are also confirmed to be affected by this security event.

Specific Data Compromised

Singapore Airlines communicated to affected customers, as reported by TechCrunch, that while they are not direct users of SITA’s Horizon system, approximately 500,000 frequent flyer members experienced a compromise of their membership numbers and tier status.

The airline explained that sharing this data is essential for verifying membership tiers and ensuring benefits are correctly applied during travel.

Crucially, passenger itineraries, reservation details, ticketing information, and passport data were not involved in this breach.

Further Airline Notifications

United Airlines has alerted its travelers that data related to members of its Star Alliance frequent flyer program was affected. However, the airline stated that no other personal information or passwords were exposed, preventing unauthorized access to MileagePlus accounts.

Despite this, United advised customers to change their passwords as a precautionary measure.

American Airlines also confirmed it was impacted, noting that while it doesn’t utilize SITA’s Horizon system, frequent flyer information is transmitted through the system to facilitate loyalty point accrual from partner airlines.

Industry Context and Previous Incidents

SITA is one of a limited number of companies providing passenger ticketing and reservation systems to airlines, alongside competitors like Sabre and Amadeus.

Sabre experienced a significant data breach in 2017, impacting its hotel reservation system and exposing over a million customer credit card records. This led to a $2.4 million settlement and revisions to its cybersecurity protocols.

In 2019, a security vulnerability was discovered in Amadeus’ passenger booking system, used by airlines such as Air France, British Airways, and Qantas, allowing for unauthorized alteration or access to traveler records.

Update

This article was updated on Saturday to include details received from United and American Airlines.