Hawaiian Airlines investigates data security breach impacting essential IT systems

Hawaiian Airlines said it is investigating a recent data security incident that has affected the airline’s essential IT systems, critical for its daily operations.

 

Hawaiian Airlines, the tenth largest airline in the U.S. and a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, operates inter-island flights within Hawaiʻi, routes to Pacific island destinations such as American Samoa and Tahiti, service to Alaska and the U.S. mainland, and international flights to Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

 

On June 26, in a statement shared with the media, a Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson said that the company is “addressing a cybersecurity event” that affected some of its critical systems.

 

The airline company immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident. 

 

The company added that it is in the process of restoring the affected systems and assured its customers that further details will be shared as they become available.

 

“Hawaiian Airlines is continuing to address a cybersecurity event that has affected some of our IT systems. We continue to safely operate our full flight schedule, and guest travel is not impacted. As we navigate the ongoing event, we remain in contact with the appropriate experts and federal authorities. We will provide updates as more information is available,” Hawaiian Airlines said.

 

Commenting on reports of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration, in a statement shared with Reuters, said that its safety office responsible for airline oversight is in contact with Hawaiian Airlines.

 

“There has been no impact on safety, and the airline continues to operate safely. We are monitoring the situation,” the agency added.

 

At the time of publishing, no known hacker group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on Hawaiian Airlines. The airline company also did not share details on the nature of the security incident, who was behind the attack, how much data was compromised, or whether it has received a ransom demand.