Commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced a data breach, which affected the company's "Commercial Aircraft business" information systems and resulted in malicious users gaining unauthorized access to company data.
Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics created in 1970, headquartered in the European Union and currently employing more than 10,000 people.
According to Airbus' press release, the breach incident did not affect its commercial activities, while the personal data that was breached belonged to European employees.
The company stated that:
“Investigations are underway to understand whether specific data has been targeted, however we know that the malicious users had access to some personal information. This is mainly professional contact and identity information of some Airbus employees in Europe.”
After discovering the breach, the company launched an investigation to identify the causes behind it and implement countermeasures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The official statement says:
“This incident is being thoroughly investigated by Airbus experts who have taken immediate and appropriate steps to enhance existing safety measures and mitigate their potential impact, as well as determine their origin.”
Airbus also said it is currently in contact with “the relevant regulatory and data protection authorities.”
Furthermore, all employees have been advised to take all possible precautions to ensure that their data is not exposed in the event of a future Airbus data breach.
Two weeks ago, attackers were able to view and change personal information in flight bookings made by millions of customers of 140 major international airlines due to a security issue in the Amadeus online reservation system.
Also, in October 2018, the airline Cathay Pacific announced that an IT system containing data on up to 9.4 million passengers was breached by attackers who had access to customers' phone numbers, emails, addresses, passport numbers and more.
