AirAsia says no critical systems were affected in recent cyber attack

AirAsia has put out a statement clarifying that the recently reported ransomeware attack did not affect any critical systems. It said the "cyber attack was on redundant systems". The company had taken all measures to immediately resolve this data incident and prevent such future incidents," it added. No further comments were provided. 

It was initially reported by DataBreaches that a ransomware attack by Daixin Team resulted in five million unique passenger data being leaked, and that all employee data was also leaked. The attack was said to have taken place on 11 and 12 November and two CSV files were allegedly shared by the attackers containing passenger ID, full name and ticket cost.  AirAsia allegedly responded to the Daixin Team via chat after the attack and the airline reportedly did not negotiate the ransom amount. Neither did it have any intentions of paying. 

The Daixin Team was recently mentioned in a joint cybersecurity advisory in the US as part of an ongoing #StopRansomware effort. The Daixin Team is described as a ransomware and data extortion group that has been operating at least since June this year, targeting businesses in the healthcare and public health sector in the US.

The company has also made several changes to its systems recently. In October this year, AirAsia has enhanced its facial recognition system, FACES, by integrating it with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad’s (Malaysia Airports) EZPaz technology at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (klia2), offering a contactless journey for its travellers. FACES is available across key customer touchpoints including mobile enrolment, check-in counter, pre-security check and boarding, for select domestic travel in the start-up phase.

Guests who have enrolled for FACES via the airasia Super App do not need to present their boarding pass after self check-in. The enhanced contactless feature went live with guests  from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching.

Earlier this month, AirAsia’s superapp also launched in Indonesia. According to airasia, for a full integrated travel experience, the travel super app also unveiled its plans to flag-off its ride-hailing service, airasia ride in Bali. It will be enabling an end-to-end travel journey for everyone using the airasia Super App on the island of Bali. Its entry into the Indonesian market is expected to disrupt the local super app space as it is the only one offering a fully integrated travel booking experience on one convenient platform, said airasia.