BRITAIN plans to fine British Airways (BA) GBP183.4 million pounds (US$230 million) over computer attacks that exposed customer data, marking the first major application of far-reaching European Union rules requiring companies to tighten anti-hacking measures.
The proposed penalty relates to data theft affecting about 500,000 customers between June and September last year, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which protects data privacy, said in a statement Monday. BA parent IAG SA said the fine amounts to 1.5 per cent of the airline's 2017 revenue.
The ICO said the hack involved BA's website traffic being diverted to a fraudulent site through which customer details were harvested, adding that security was compromised by poor protection of functions related to log-in, payment card, and travel booking details, as well name and address information.
'We are surprised and disappointed in this initial finding from the ICO,' said BA chairman and CEO Alex Cruz.
BA said its systems were compromised from August 21 through September 5 and that about 380,000 transactions had been affected.
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The proposed penalty relates to data theft affecting about 500,000 customers between June and September last year, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which protects data privacy, said in a statement Monday. BA parent IAG SA said the fine amounts to 1.5 per cent of the airline's 2017 revenue.
The ICO said the hack involved BA's website traffic being diverted to a fraudulent site through which customer details were harvested, adding that security was compromised by poor protection of functions related to log-in, payment card, and travel booking details, as well name and address information.
'We are surprised and disappointed in this initial finding from the ICO,' said BA chairman and CEO Alex Cruz.
BA said its systems were compromised from August 21 through September 5 and that about 380,000 transactions had been affected.
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