[RM Motorsports]

Air India customers' data leaked in major cyber attack, credit card details compromised. In this attack, details like name, date of birth, contact information, passport details, ticket information, Star Alliance and Air India frequent flyer data as well as credit card data were leaked in the attack that targetted Geneva-based passenger system operator SITA.

The incident has affected around 45 lakh customers registered between 26th August 2011 and 3rd February 2021, Air India said, disclosing the scale of the breach nearly three months after it was first informed of it.

https://www.businesstoday.in/technol...ry/439708.html

[GTO]

Call me crazy, but I'm largely unaffected by such data breaches. My name + DOB + postal address + aadhar card number + phone number + email address are probably part of 1000s of databases already, used not just by marketing companies for sending me promotional emails / messages, but also data analysis and data mining companies. Hell, I would have given my Aadhar copy to 10 mobile store operators for SIM card applications. Good luck with the "data security" policies practiced at these small shops . You can even buy databases of luxury car owners in Mumbai for 5000 - 10000 bucks (no doubt leaked by idiots at the showroom itself). Just giving an example, but data privacy is a myth today. Even Mukesh Ambani's and Ratan Tata's phone numbers are easily available if you know who to ask or pay.

The only thing that would bother me is my debit card detail being compromised. Credit cards, not so much as its the bank's money anyway. Whenever my credit cards have been used by a thief, the card companies have stepped in and solved the problem superbly.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

The incident has affected around 45 lakh customers registered between 26th August 2011 and 3rd February 2021

So 45 lakh in ~10 years
How does this compare to other airlines? Good, about average or bad?
Frankly speaking, though I have never flown AI (by choice after hearing lots of horror stories), I am surprised others still do.

[TrackDay]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

I am surprised others still do.

I have flown with Air India as recently as 2019 on an up and down trip to Mumbai from Kochi. The service was pretty decent, although the dining was nothing to brag about. Another time I flew on Air India was on an international journey only because they were flying the 747 on that leg of the journey.

Data breach is something that is happening all over. There is also news of a Dominos data breach in the news today. Best measure would be to use separate accounts with less funds for such transactions. In light of the Air India data breach here is an article on how to stay safe if your affected :

https://www.gadgetsnow.com/slideshow...picid=82842921

[Marshall]

When Alexa knows that you haven't paid the electricity bill paid and when Amazon knows that it is time for you stock up on your sugar and salt, Google knows how many bank accounts I have and what their balances are, there's hardly any more concern for data breaches.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

So 45 lakh in ~10 years
How does this compare to other airlines? Good, about average or bad?
Frankly speaking, though I have never flown AI (by choice after hearing lots of horror stories), I am surprised others still do.

I love Air India and always prefer to fly on it where possible.
They have better legroom on international flights and much better food and beverage options. They can be a little officious but they are not cheap when it comes to food and drinks.

[Joscyriac]

I dunno if it's related to the Air India data breach. Today morning i received three OTPs on my mobile number for websites/services i haven't heard of. One was for an amount of USD118 on AliExpress and one was for Rs.2149 on something called AY5SPT356. I called up my bank and blocked the card. After blocking i received another message which meant somebody tried to use my card at nordvpn.com but was rejected as card was blocked already. Coming close to the air India data breach i think this might be related as I'm an Air India customer. This incident has really rattled my nerves. I'm still worried to what may happen and what more can i do to secure my account.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by GTO

Call me crazy, but I'm largely unaffected by such data breaches. My name + DOB + postal address + aadhar card number + phone number + email address are probably part of 1000s of databases already, used not just by marketing companies for sending me promotional emails / messages, but also data analysis and data mining companies. Hell, I would have given my Aadhar copy to 10 mobile store operators for SIM card applications.

I think you ought to be a little more cautious, there have been cases of identity fraud, wherein people have obtained bank loans pretending to be someone else. The fraud is discovered only after a while, when the perp doesn't repay. This might not cause you an immediate financial loss, but affects your credit score adversely. See more info here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/72062825.cms

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

So 45 lakh in ~10 years
How does this compare to other airlines? Good, about average or bad?
Frankly speaking, though I have never flown AI (by choice after hearing lots of horror stories), I am surprised others still do.

Well, I have flown Air India on a few sectors. There were other airlines, but I chose AIR India since it was the most convenient for those long haul non stop flights. Saved time, saved the stress of stop overs, and was a fairly comfortable uneventful flight, which is exactly how I prefer it. Also, I find, the cabin crew competent and helpful on most occasions. Some foreign carrier staff can be notoriously rude to other ethnicities, including Indians unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Lobogris

I love Air India and always prefer to fly on it where possible.
They have better legroom on international flights and much better food and beverage options. They can be a little officious but they are not cheap when it comes to food and drinks.

Agreed, This is my experience as well.

Originally Posted by Joscyriac

I dunno if it's related to the Air India data breach. Today morning i received three OTPs on my mobile number for websites/services i haven't heard of. One was for an amount of USD118 on AliExpress and one was for Rs.2149 on something called AY5SPT356. I called up my bank and blocked the card. After blocking i received another message which meant somebody tried to use my card at nordvpn.com but was rejected as card was blocked already. Coming close to the air India data breach i think this might be related as I'm an Air India customer. This incident has really rattled my nerves. I'm still worried to what may happen and what more can i do to secure my account.

I doubt it, since the AI breach did not include CVV numbers since that is not stored by SITA or AI. Possibly this breach occurred elsewhere. You've done the right thing by blocking your card immediately. Very common occurrence these days.

[srini1785]

In good old days which basically means pre 1990's, when all this IT based data storage was unheard of and the only luxury of communication was a landline phone there used to be a bible called Yellow pages in homes which had a telephone (obtained after a 10 year wait). So if you know the name of a person then all you had to do was look up at the yellow pages and you will find his/her address from where you can can basically get all his/her personal details.

So why cry now when we voluntarily give up personal data to dubious people for services?. Almost our entire life history is available on the net upon demand.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by srini1785

...
So why cry now when we voluntarily give up personal data to dubious people for services?. Almost our entire life history is available on the net upon demand.

The point is not about the address and name - it is about being exposed to mis-use of ones' data for the miscreant's gain.
It will not be a happy conversation with the taxman if they find a shady account is opened by impersonating us. These days even OTPs are not secure. For a good, malicious hacker, all these little bits of information are useful, and the end goal may not just be a simple credit card breach.

The lesser information there is on public domain the better.

I believe that there should be a hue and cry on data leaks. That atleast brings to focus that organizations need to take care of data entrusted with them.

[TrackDay]

Originally Posted by srini1785

In good old days which basically means pre 1990's, when all this IT based data storage was unheard of and the only luxury of communication was a landline phone there used to be a bible called Yellow pages in homes which had a telephone (obtained after a 10 year wait). So if you know the name of a person then all you had to do was look up at the yellow pages and you will find his/her address from where you can can basically get all his/her personal details.

So why cry now when we voluntarily give up personal data to dubious people for services?. Almost our entire life history is available on the net upon demand.

As far as yellow pages or telephone directories go, the only data in there is the name of the telephone owner and the land line number. Unless one had advertised or paid extra nothing else comes in besides the name and number.

Today handing over personal details has become sort of compulsory in some places. For instance with Decathlon one cant purchase anything without giving out their phone number. Similar for essential services too, like hospital or even clinic visits. Everyone is collecting data and selling it. The worry is not with data being out there, but how it will be used against us. Not worried about advertisers or marketing folks, but rather the wrong guys who might misuse it.

A combination of certain data is really unsafe like OTP registered numbers and bank card numbers. Also senior citizens are prone to many such attacks. There should be certain rules regulating what kind of data one can collect.

[haisaikat]

Although I am scared about known occurences of data breaches, the ones unknown to me are what scares me most. But data breaches must be taken seriously and not light heartedly since there are implications beyond our knowledge.

This is the reason I maintain 4 principles

1. Share incorrect DOB unless it's a government or insurance site where DOB matters and will be held for accuracy on future
2. Never go for saved card options and prefer PayPal or Gpay / UPI or Paytm as payment where payment requires OTP or password
3. Never keep same or similar password as my email or social accounts, this is a common method tried by hackers.
4. Keep card insurance that protects you from online frauds.

Remember to check for certified payment gateway links be it SSL certificates or certified by a known 3rd party like PCI or both. Note a saved credit card details can be used in a international payment gateway without any OTP.

[anjan_c2007]

My ticketing for Air India travel during this period was done through an agent who could have shared my name, date of birth, mobile number and perhaps office address. Hence since there was no direct dealing, I would feel safe. Also I did'nt travel abroad by Air India during this data breach period and I also don't have any frequent flyer membership with the two airlines. As such my mobile is used to getting spam messages, but lately I have blocked many of them through True Caller.

Also, since the breach has gobbled all the data since 2011, its most likely that old credit/ debit card data is as good as e-scrap. This is because most such cards would have been renewed by now. The five year renewals followed by most of the issuers of such cards could then be a risk for valid cards wef 2016 onwards, that are valid till some date in 2021. But without the CVV/CVC numbers these card details are again more or less useless, unless the hacker contacts some gullible card holder asking for the CVV/CVC to gain access for swindling. Card holders need to be on the watch out.

The Air India note says that :-

"name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, Star Alliance and Air India Frequent Flyer data (but no passwords data were affected) as well as credit card data. However, in the last type of data CVV/CVC numbers are not held by our data processor."

Though Air India doesnt say that debit card data has been also breached alongwith the credit card data, but that could be an oversight by the airlines, as its most likely that the debit card data could have also been breached. But again without the CVV/CVC numbers the data is more or less useless. We also do not know about those who used net banking to pay the airlines, as nothing of that sort is mentioned.

[AZT]

We need a common thread for data breaches. Domino's had a data breach yesterday and everyone who ordered from their app/website their number, email, delivery address leaked of past orders leaked.

No CC details leaked but I've heard people are finding out addresses by using phone numbers so stalkers are having a field day. Jubilant foodworks share doing well even today shows just how little importance data security is given in our country.

Not posting the data breach link for obvious reasons. Article on this below.

https://indianexpress.com/article/te...eaked-7328416/

[naikameya]

Here is what I do:

• I don't use UPI
• I don't have my bank mobile app
• I don't share my bank mobile number with any junta forms, tie-ups, apps, etc. Dual Sim phones are a boon here.
• Never use debit card/ net banking/ UPI for e-commerce purchases
• Never use an ATM/ debit card to swipe on a physical POS machine

You get where I am going with this...Nobody gets access to my bank accounts. Everything is using a credit card online and offline.

And like GTO said Credit Card is banks money, not mine. It does require hygiene that you don't use a credit card for credit but only a mode for payment. Like relay separating high voltage and low voltage circuits in your car. (Sorry I had to add something car-related).