UK airports hit by major cyberattack: What customers need to know

A major cyberattack has exposed personal data belonging to millions of airport customers after criminal cyber hackers accessed their records.

Reports from Manchester Airports Group which owns Manchester, East Midlands and London Stansted airports confirmed that customers’ contact details, vehicle registrations and postcodes were breached by hackers over the weekend.

MAG further stated that no aviation security was compromised and the system did not store customer payment records meaning that the majority of the data access was limited to customer email addresses related to Wi-Fi sign-ups within the airports terminals.

The firm further said it only became aware of the hacking incident on Tuesday and immediately prevented the hackers from gaining any further access, while notifying impacted consumers.

The statement released from the MAG reads: “We would like to reassure customers that Manchester Airport Group takes the security of customer information extremely seriously and we apologies for any inconvenience or concern caused.”

In light of the major incident occurring, customers are encouraged to stay on guard against questionable inbox messages, phone calls and avoid opening attachments from unknown contacts. Further, MAG maintained that the relevant authorities had been notified.