Security News > 2023 > June > American and Southwest Airlines pilot candidate data exposed

A vendor that operates a pilot recruitment platform used by maor airlines exposed the personal files of more than 8,000 pilot and cadet applicants at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

Both American and Southwest on June 23 sent letters to those people affected by the hack of Pilot Credentials, a company based in Austin, Texas, that was founded in 2005 and manages online pilot recruitment portals for American, Southwest, and other airlines.

According to the letters, Pilot Credentials' systems were broken into by unknown criminals on April 30 and the airlines were both notified of the attack on May 3.

The files stolen contained a range of data about pilot applicants, including their names, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, driver's license numbers, dates of birth, Airman Certificate numbers, and other government-issued identification numbers.

Both airlines said in their letters that there was no "Evidence" that the stolen data has been used in fraud or identity theft scams.

At the same time, both said they now running their recruitment efforts through internal portals managed by the respective airlines.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/06/26/american_southwest_airline_breach/