British Airways landed in hot water when its database was breached, allowing hackers to steal the information of half-a-million BA customers. According to Afar, the airline is facing a fine of £183 million (R2,876,038,980), which is equivalent to 1.5 percent of BA’s annual revenue.
The high price of the fine is due to newly-implemented regulations, and is hoped to stand as an example and warning for other companies of the consequences of having large data caches hacked.
While the breach was reported a few months ago, the fine was proposed by the Britain’s Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, on Monday 8 July.
According to Afar, a scam diverted BA customers to a fake website where their credit card details were stolen.
Denham said in a statement, ‘People’s personal data is just that, personal. When an organization fails to protect it from loss, damage or theft it is more than an inconvenience. That’s why the law is clear, when you are entrusted with personal data you must look after it.’
After investigating BA, the Information Commissioner’s Office said that the weak security compromised users’ login, payment cards, travel booking details, name and address information.
Image: Unsplash
You may also like
Related Posts
China’s National Health Commission has published a list of controversial coronavirus treatments that have animal...
read more
Warmer sea temperatures in the summer months, especially in February, were recorded and are believed...
read more
The latest report indexing the world's happiest countries has highlighted the important role of...
read more
