A recent data breach involving Korean Air and Asiana Airlines demonstrates the aviation industry’s structural vulnerability to cyberattacks targeting third-party IT providers.
Last week, Korean Air and Asiana said customer reservation information had been leaked through Amadeus IT Group, a global aviation technology provider that operates reservation and ticketing systems for airlines worldwide.
Korean Air confirmed that some customers' booking reference numbers were among the exposed information, while the full scope of the leak and the number of affected customers remained under investigation.
Korean Air said it had requested stronger safeguards and measures to prevent further issues from Amadeus.
In 2017, a technical network failure affecting Amadeus systems disrupted check-in services at airports worldwide, demonstrating how problems at a shared provider can affect multiple carriers.