British Airways cyber hack: disaster waiting to happen

The British Airways cyber hack was a disaster waiting to happen for a number of reasons. We’ve launched legal action on the basis this was a preventable incident.

You can read more about our legal action and your rights to claim for data breach compensation here.

A number of high-profile hacks took place in the lead up to the British Airways cyber hack. These, together with the GDPR that came into force in May this year were clear warnings that, not only would attacks happen, but they can be costly.

How British Airways still managed to fall victim to the attack despite the warnings is concerning.

British Airways cyber hack a part of wider operation

The British Airways cyber hack was part of a wider operation. This was well publicised when the likes of Ticketmaster fell victim to a similar attack. In fact, its understood that the same hackers are behind this and the British Airways cyber hack.

The Ticketmaster data breach that we’re also running a legal action for was a warning that hackers were going after payment processing systems. We published an article ourselves on the fact that this was the tip of the iceberg. British Airways should have expected that they could have been a target.

Despite this, they were still successfully hit.

GDPR and Equifax should have prevented the British Airways cyber hack too

You can also argue that the GDPR that came into force in May should have been motivation enough. The British Airways cyber hack will likely see the company fined as much as £500m for the breach, which is one heck of a punishment.

And it could have been avoided.

Last year’s massive Equifax attack (another one of the over 20 data breach actions we’re representing people in) showed how simple security lapses can be costly. They’ve just been fined the maximum under the previous (pre-GDPR) legislation. This was a massive wake-up call in how not to fall short when it comes to cybersecurity.

Security expert’s warning in lead up to British Airways cyber hack

It gets worse. It’s understood that a security expert raised fears of the British Airways cyber hack before it happened. The airline was apparently warned that more needed to be done to secure customers’ payment data, which is what was exposed in the breach.

British Airways reportedly ignored this advice.

Claim compensation as a victim of the British Airways cyber hack

You can claim compensation as a victim of the British Airways cyber hack. Please contact our team for further help and assistance.

British Airways complaints and compensation

Equifax data breach fine: maximum penalty issued