Assets
2021
Payment of millions of pounds compensation for data breaches
In early July 2021, British Airways reached an agreement to resolve a class action lawsuit over a data breach in 2018 involving the personal and financial data of hundreds of thousands of customers.
PGMBM, one of the law firms that filed a class action lawsuit against British Airways in the High Court, noted in its filing that the case was settled on "confidential" terms.
 | The resolution includes a provision for compensation to the plaintiffs concerned who participated in the proceedings. The resolution does not include any recognition of liability by British Airways, PGMBM said. |  |
The lawsuit was based on the leak of British Airways data in 2018, when the credit card data of 380,000 people was stolen due to infection with the Magecart virus.
A British Airways spokesman said:
| | We apologized to customers who may have been affected by this issue and are pleased that we were able to resolve the class action. When the problem arose, we quickly took measures to protect and inform our customers. | |
Law firm Keller Lenkner, representing the interests of British Airways plaintiffs, noted:
| | In our experience and similar cases, compensation of about Pound2000 per claimant (average) is allowed. | |
According to Sky News, about 16,000 people applied for participation in group litigation (GLO), which means that the airline may have paid about 32 million pounds.
In October 2020, the British Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) fined British Airways £20 million. The agency imposed the largest fine in its history due to the fact that the airline processed a significant amount of data without proper security measures.[1]
Investing in a hydrogen engine developer ZeroAvia
March 31, 2021 ZeroAvia reported raising $24.3 million. Taking into account these investments, the total amount of funds received by the developer of hydrogen engines with Russian roots from investors has reached $74 million since its inception. The most in the ZeroAvia funding round, which was announced at the end of March 2021, was provided to the startup by Horizons Ventures. The deal was also attended by the Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, Shell Ventures, SYSTEMIQ and Breakthrough Eneregy Ventures (co-founder of this fund is Microsoft Bill Gates). In addition, British Airways joined the number of investors in the ZeroAvia. More details here.
2020: Reduction of 12,000 jobs
At the end of April 2020, it became known that British Airways was laying off 12 thousand employees due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The airline made the following statement:
| | Due to the impact of COVID-19 on current operations, restoring air transportation demand to the 2019 level will take several years, so British Airways officially notifies its unions of the proposed restructuring program. All proposals have yet to be discussed, but they will probably affect most British Airways employees and lead to a reduction of up to 12 thousand jobs. | |
In March-April, many airlines were forced to reduce or stop flights, and hardly a tenth of the planes fly into the air. Earlier, British Airways sent 22,626 employees on vacation without pay.
British Airways CEO Alex Cruz said:
| | Our industry has never experienced such a deep crisis, and passenger revenues for a full year may fall by 55% compared to 2019, and the volume of traffic will decrease by 48%. Flight restrictions mean that we have lost revenue, although we are taking all possible measures to maintain business in the short term. | |
Senior market analyst at Asktraders Nigel Frith noted:
| | COVID-19 proved to us that security is illusory. For the aviation industry, indeed, alarming and unpredictable times have come. | |
In addition, the expert said that the announcement of a possible dismissal may cause indignation among employees.
According to Frith, it is unlikely that all these pilots and flight attendants will be in demand by other airlines in the near future. Such measures can exacerbate the situation instead of helping. Perhaps British Airways should consider alternatives to layoffs.
| | What if this solution is the beginning of the end for the company? We will have to decide quickly, "he stressed.[2] | |
2019
IT systems failed and caused collapse at airports
On August 7, 2019, a failure occurred in British Airways computer systems, due to which dozens of flights were delayed. The problem is compounded by the fact that it arose during the peak of holidays.
| | We had some problems this morning, they affected terminals and check-in desks, as well as aircraft departures... We are working to solve the system problem as quickly as possible, which led to the cancellation of a number of short-distance flights and delays at London airports, British Airways said in a statement. | |
The airline also said that some flights continue to operate. Nevertheless, the airline recommended that customers check the relevant information on the website before coming to the airport. Passengers whose flight has been canceled, the airline offers the possibility of transferring it to other days.
Due to problems, the company canceled more than 90 flights at London airports. Among them are a flight to St. Petersburg, which was supposed to arrive in Pulkovo at 14:45 Moscow time. The departure from Pulkovo to London, which was scheduled to go at 15:40 Moscow time, was also canceled.
In total, several thousand passengers were injured due to the failure. At the check-in desks at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, giant queues have accumulated, as evidenced by numerous photos and videos.
Some users complain about problems with online registration for a flight, while others write on social networks that they are stuck in planes that could not take off for hours.
Photographer Stuart Jackson wrote on his Twitter blog that he and other passengers were stuck in the plane, as a result of which he did not have time for a connecting flight, plans for the months were broken and thousands of pounds were lost.
According to Reuters, this major computer failure at British Airways was the third in just over two years.[3]
Fine of £183.4 million for leaking passenger data
On July 8, 2019, the British Information Commissioner's Office (ICO ) announced the imposition of a fine of £183.4 million (about $230 million) on British Airways for large-scale data breaches.
| | The law is very clear - if you are trusted with personal data, then you must preserve it. Those who cannot cope with this will face thorough scrutiny from my department, "said ICO Commissioner Elizabeth Danham. | |
According to the BBC, the fine has become the largest of any ICO ever issued. In addition, it turned out to be a record for airlines that made data leaks. British Airways Chairman and CEO Alex Cruz said the company was "surprised and disappointed" by the regulator's decision.
| | British Airways quickly responded to a criminal act to steal customer data. We did not find any evidence of fraud on the accounts affected by the theft, "Cruz said. He also apologized to clients for the inconvenience caused. | |
Initially, British Airways stated that as a result of a cyber attack on the airline's website and mobile application, 380 thousand customers could be stolen from bank cards. However, it later turned out that the leak affected 185 thousand more passengers than originally stated, and the theft itself did not last two weeks, but longer, reports the Financial Times.
The fine issued by British Airways will be 1.5% of the airline's global turnover in 2017 (the maximum possible fine in the UK for data leakage is 4% of the company's turnover).
The punishment of British Airways may become one of the most prominent within the framework of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which GDPR began to operate on May 25, 2018.[4]
2018
Disclosed a method of hacking the site British Airways
On September 11, 2018, a way to hack the British Airways website became known, which led to the largest data leak in the airline.
Risk IQ, a company specializing in information security technologies, discovered malicious strings in the site's software code, with which hackers were able to obtain data from about 380 thousand airline customers.
According to experts, behind the cyber attack on the site and the British Airways mobile application is the hacker group MageCart, which hacks services by introducing a script that works on the principle of skimmers. Such miniature devices are installed by fraudsters in an ATM to steal bank data from debit and credit card holders.
Risk IQ said that the skimming scheme was adapted to the British Airways website. It was built in such a way that a malicious mechanism was built into the processing of payments, as a result of which it was very difficult to notice fraud. Most likely, hackers gained access to the airline's website some time before the start of the attack, which took place from August 21 to September 5, 2018, since the attack was well planned.
| | This skimmer is very well adapted to arrange payments on the British Airways website. This indicates that the organizers thought very carefully how to attack the site, instead of blindly introducing the usual skimmer, MageCart Risk IQ said. | |
The attackers added 22 lines of program code at the end of the Modernizr JavaScript library, which ensured that British Airways customers sent payment data to the remote server belonging to the attack organizers. To increase disguise, stolen information was sent to the baways.com website, reminiscent of the official British Airways resource.[5]
Leakage of banking data of 380 thousand customers
In early September 2018, it became known about the large-scale leak of British Airways customer data. As a result of the hacker attack, information was stolen regarding card payments to about 380 thousand people who used the services of a British airline.
Users who made online booking of tickets on the site and through the British Airways mobile application from August 21 to September 5, 2018 suffered, the Reuters news agency reports citing a statement by the International Airlines Group holding, which includes British Airways.
| | British Airways contacts the victims, we advise all customers who believe that they may have been affected by this incident, contact their banks and follow their recommendations, the holding said. | |
The airline claims that the vulnerability due to which the cyber incident occurred has been eliminated, and only information on cashless settlements turned out to be "compromised" - the passport data of cardholders and information about planned flights are not affected. An urgent investigation is underway in cooperation with law enforcement agencies.[6]
British Airways CEO Alex Cruz expressed regret over what happened and apologized to customers.
| | We deeply regret the violation caused by criminal acts. We take the data protection of our customers very seriously , "said the head of the airline. | |
British Airways did not name the reasons why there was a major leak of customer data. The company only noted that the problems are not related to the decision to outsource IT operations.
According to The Guardian, after the incident, British Airways may be fined in accordance with the new general rules for data protection. The maximum penalty for such violations is 4% of global revenue. In the case of British Airways, we are talking about £500 million.
2017: Large-scale IT failure
On May 27, 2017, a large-scale failure occurred in the computer systems of British Airways, which led to the cancellation of many flights. Losses of the carrier as a result of the incident may amount to up to $200 million.
27 - On May 28, 2017, about 75 thousand passengers could not fly from London airports by British Airways flights, more than 1 thousand flights were canceled or postponed. Those who managed to transfer to flights of other airlines had to travel without luggage. Problems in the work of British Airways coincided with the start of a week of school holidays in the UK.
The cancellation of flights occurred due to problems in the computer system that arose as a result of power outages. The failure also affected the company's website and call center. The airline did not find evidence of hackers' involvement in the problem.
Earlier, British media suggested that the largest IT failure in the aviation industry in recent years was due to the optimization of British Airways costs and the transfer of some types of work. The company itself denied this information.
According to Citigroup estimates, the consequences of a computer failure will cost British Airways about 100 million euros. The bank estimated that 175 thousand passengers were injured due to the cancellation of flights.
The Times, citing experts, writes that each passenger who suffered from a malfunction of the airline will have to pay from 225 to 540 pounds, and the total loss of the airline may exceed 150 million pounds ($190 million).
The International Consolidated Airlines Group, which includes British Airways, notes that it is too early to make forecasts about the costs associated with a computer failure.[7]
1936
1931
Notes
- ↑ BA data breach: Law firm lands compensation payouts after 2018 hacking
- ↑ British Airways to cut up to 12,000 jobs including cabin crew as coronavirus crisis hits
- ↑ British Airways flights disrupted by IT failures
- ↑ UK proposes £183m fine over British Airways data breach
- ↑ Inside the Magecart Breach of British Airways: How 22 Lines of Code Claimed 380,000 Victims
- ↑ British Airways website suffers data breach; 380,000 payments affected
- ↑ British Airways vows 'never again' after costly IT collapse
| The site content is translated by machine translation software powered by PROMT. The machine-translated articles are not always perfect and may contain errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. Read original article If you find inaccuracies or errors in the results of machine translation, please write to editor@tadviser.ru. We will make every effort to correct them as soon as possible. |