Financial data of almost 400,000 British Airways customers stolen in data breach

Have you booked with the airline in the last few weeks?

It's reported that approximately 380,000 customers had their private and financial details stolen from the British Airways website following a data breach. The airline claim that the breach took place between 22:58 BST on Tuesday 21 August and 21:45 BST on Wednesday 5 September, and that the breach only affects those people who bought tickets during that timeframe. In an official statement via BBC, the airline said "The breach has been resolved and our website is working normally. We have notified the police and relevant authorities. We take the protection of our customers' data very seriously." Additionally, Alex Cruz, the chief executive of British Airways, said that the hackers carried out a "sophisticated, malicious criminal attack" on the website. He added that, "The moment that actual customer data had been compromised, that's when we began immediate communication to our customers." Customers are being advised that should they be concerned about potentially being at risk, then they should consider changing their online passwords, monitor bank and other online accounts and be wary that fraudsters may refer to the breach in scam emails. The airline took out full-page adverts in Friday's newspapers apologising for the breach. Finally, Cruz stated, "At the moment, our number one purpose is contacting those customers that made those transactions to make sure they contact their credit card bank providers so they can follow their instructions on how to manage that breach of data." https://twitter.com/PentecostalCU/status/1037948381199515648