Security News > 2023 > June > American Airlines, Southwest Airlines disclose data breaches affecting pilots
American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, two of the largest airlines in the world, disclosed data breaches on Friday caused by the hack of Pilot Credentials, a third-party vendor that manages multiple airlines' pilot applications and recruitment portals.
According to breach notifications filed on Friday with Maine's Office of the Attorney General, American Airlines said the data breach affected 5745 pilots and applicants, while Southwest reported a total of 3009.
"Our investigation determined that the data involved contained some of your personal information, such as your name and Social Security number, driver's license number, passport number, date of birth, Airman Certificate number, and other government-issued identification number(s)," American Airlines revealed.
American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have also notified relevant law enforcement authorities of the breaches and are fully cooperating with their ongoing investigation into the matter.
The disclosures come after American Airlines disclosed another data breach in September 2022 that impacted over 1,708 American Airlines customers and team members following a July 2022 phishing attack that led to the compromise of a number of employee email accounts.
American Airlines was also hit by a data breach in March 2021 after global air information tech giant SITA disclosed that hackers breached its servers and accessed the Passenger Service System used by multiple airlines worldwide.