Posted on August 30, 2018 at 7:24 PM
Air Canada: Why Your Passport May Have Been Spied
Canadian aviation industry alerts customers to a potential spy into their personal details with it, as it claims its mobile data application was recently breached. Customers of the renowned Air Canada have been alerted by the airline operator on recent infractions it suffered on its mobile application, the result of which may have been the revelation of passport details of not less than 20,000 of its customers.
The notice which was made available on Wednesday on the airline’s official website notified customers that a breach of the airline’s mobile app was discovered between the 22nd and 24th of August, 2018.
How The Infraction Was Detected
Air Canada claims it identified some “unusual login behavior” amidst its mobile app. And in spite of the move embarked upon by the Canadian airline company to immediately checkmate the breach, there are suspicions that personal data of roughly 20, 000 of its customers may have been stolen.
In effect, if this suspicion is true, what it means is that customers profile such as their dates of birth, emails, NEXUS numbers, Aeroplan number, nationalities, passport expiry dates, gender, and Known Traveler numbers may have been compromised.
No Cause For Alarm, Air Canada Affirms
In the event of this infraction, the Canadian airline says its customers should not panic as according to the Canadian government’s release, once a person still owns their proof of citizenship, passport, and means of identification, the risk of someone else getting a passport in their name is very low.
From the position of the government, Air Canada stressed that no new passport could be issued just by being able to reproduce the information contained in a previously-issued one. It is equally not a thing to worry about whether a person’s financial details can be hacked because of the breach as there is effective encryption in place.
The Canadian airline operator has affirmed that it takes the security of its teeming customers very seriously as it works with frontline security companies to ensure the first-class security of all its customers’ data.
Flight Tracking Apps May Not Be Safe After All
While there are increasing calls by many airlines for customers to subscribe to flight tracking apps, it is opined by experts such as Setu Kulkarni of WhiteHat Security that such endeavors might further increase the risk of customer’s data exposure.
This recent mobile application breach of Air Canada has been attributed by the executive to its B2B integration with Aeroplan platform, and as WhiteHat Security’s VP of corporate strategy would say, a greater risk may not be out of view if such synergies persist.
It, therefore, means that irrespective of the relevance of Aeroplan platform to business growth, its inability to assure its partners of the security of their data may have made it unfit for any further transaction.
