6M Qantas customers targeted by fraudsters days after FBI warns airlines
Qantas expects that data theft by fraudsters targeting a system holding the personal details of six million customers will be “significant” as it continues to investigate the attack.
On July 2, 2025, Qantas announced that an individual or individuals with possible criminal intent targeted a call center and gained access to a third-party customer servicing platform.
The airline said that on July 1, 2025, it “detected unusual activity on a third-party platform used by a Qantas airline contact center” and immediately initiated counter cyber-attack measures to contain the system.
While the system is now reportedly secure, Qantas admits that there are six million customers that have service records withing the affected platform.
“We are continuing to investigate the proportion of the data that has been stolen, though we expect it will be significant. An initial review has confirmed the data includes some customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers,” a spokesperson for Qantas said.
The airline added: “Importantly, credit card details, personal financial information and passport details are not held in this system. No frequent flyer accounts were compromised, nor have passwords, PIN numbers or log in details been accessed.”
On June 28, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US, warned airlines specifically that cybercriminal group Scattered Spider may target the sector.
In a warning on social media, the FBI said: “These actors rely on social engineering techniques, often impersonating employees or contractors to deceive IT help desks into granting access. These techniques frequently involve methods to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA), such as convincing help desk services to add unauthorized MFA devices to compromised accounts.”
ALERT—The FBI has recently observed the cybercriminal group Scattered Spider expanding its targeting to include the airline sector. These actors rely on social engineering techniques, often impersonating employees or contractors to deceive IT help desks into granting access.… pic.twitter.com/gowmbsAbBY— FBI (@FBI) June 27, 2025 The FBI added: “They target large corporations and their third-party IT providers, which means anyone in the airline ecosystem, including trusted vendors and contractors, could be at risk.”
Qantas has notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner regarding the data breach. The Australian Federal Police were also contacted.
The airline is currently contacting customers to make them aware of the incident, apologize and provide details on the support available.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers, and we recognise the uncertainty this will cause. Our customers trust us with their personal information and we take that responsibility seriously. We are working closely with the Federal Government’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and independent specialised cyber security experts,” said Qantas Group CEO, Vanessa Hudson.
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Qantas expects that data theft by fraudsters targeting a system holding the personal details of six million customers…
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