Air Canada Discloses Cyber Security Incident

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Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline and flag carrier, has revealed a recent cyber security incident, during which hackers briefly gained limited access to its internal systems.

Hackers Gain Brief Access

Air Canada, which has recently faced criticism for forcing passengers to sit in unsanitary conditions or risk being added to a no-fly list, is once again in the spotlight. This time, the airline has been affected by a cyber security incident that impacted one of its internal systems.

A statement published on Air Canada’s press website on September 20th confirms that an unauthorized group briefly obtained limited access to an internal system, which contained some personal information of employees and certain records ^source. However, customer data was not affected, and both flight operations systems and customer-facing systems remained unaffected by the incident.

Air Canada has taken immediate action by contacting the affected parties and relevant law enforcement authorities. The airline assures the public that all its systems are fully operational and additional security measures have been implemented with the assistance of leading global cyber security experts. These measures are aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future and ensuring the security of the data held by Air Canada.

Despite the disclosure, Air Canada has not provided any further details regarding the cause of the incident. The company concludes its statement by stating that it will not be making any further public comments on the matter.

This is not the first time Air Canada has experienced a cyber attack. In 2018, the airline reported unauthorized access to the profile information of 20,000 mobile app users. As a precautionary measure, Air Canada had to lockout all 1.7 million mobile app accounts at that time.