Akasa Air suffers data breach, warns affected users about possible phishing attacks

India’s newest commercial airline Akasa Air was hit by a mega data breach, following which it issued an apology to customers and “self-reported” the issue to national cybersecurity agency Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). 

Launched less than a month ago, the airline which was backed by deceased legendary investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, said that the breach had resulted in unauthorised access to certain information about its customers.

The company further said that there was "no intentional hacking attempt" based on its records. Nevertheless, it has advised users to exercise caution around possible phishing attempts.

A temporary technical configuration error related to its login and sign-up service was reported on August 25, the company said. 

"As a result, some Akasa Air registered user information limited to names, gender, e-mail addresses and phone numbers may have been viewed by unauthorised individuals. We can confirm to you that aside from the above details, no travel-related information, travel records or payment information was compromised," it said.

The airline said it had halted unauthorised access as soon as it became aware of the incident. The service was resumed after additional safety controls were added. 

"We would like to clarify that basis our records there was no intentional hacking attempt, but that the situation was reported by a research expert through a journalist for which we are grateful," Akasa Air's Co-Founder and Chief Information Officer Anand Srinivasan said in a statement.

The airline started its inaugural flight on August 7 between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. 

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(With inputs from agencies)