Personal info of Akasa Air’s passengers leaked, airline informs CERT-In

Personal information such as names, genders, email addresses and phone numbers of some Akasa Air’s passengers has been leaked to “unauthorised individuals”, the airline stated on Sunday.

India’s newest carrier said it self-reported this incident to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team CERT-In, which is the government-authorised nodal agency tasked to deal with matters of this nature.

Akasa Air had on August 7 launched commercial flight operations by operating its first service on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route using B737 Max aircraft.

On Saturday and Sunday, the airline sent emails to passengers — who had submitted their details on its website while booking tickets — to inform them about the aforementioned leak.

“A temporary technical configuration error related to our login and sign-up service was reported on August 25. As a result, some Akasa Air registered user information limited to names, gender, email addresses and phone numbers may have been viewed by unauthorized individuals,” the airline’s email noted.

Aside from the above details, no travel-related information, travel records or payment information was compromised, it clarified.

“On being made aware of the incident, we immediately stopped this unauthorised access by completely shutting down the associated functional elements of our system. Subsequently having added additional controls to address this situation, we have resumed our login and sign-up services,” it mentioned.

The airline – which plans to operate 150 weekly flights by the end of September – said it has undertaken additional reviews to ensure that the security of all its systems is enhanced further.

“We wanted to make you aware of this situation and urge you to be vigilant against possible phishing attempts, since your information may have been accessed as a result of this incident,” it noted.

The airline’s key investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala passed away on August 14. Three days later, its CEO Vinay Dube said the carrier is well-capitalised and has financial means to place an order for more planes.

Akasa Air had in November last year ordered 72 B737 Max planes from Boeing. The US-based aircraft manufacturer has delivered three of the 72 planes till date.

The carrier did not immediately respond to Business Standard’s queries on the aforementioned leak incident.