Vietnam Airlines Breach Adds to Rising Airline Cyberattacks
Vietnam Airlines has disclosed a significant data breach involving a third-party customer service platform.
The airline became aware of the incident after hackers publicly listed 23 million customer records from several companies, including Vietnam Airlines, on data-trading forums on October 10.
The breach potentially exposed personal information of millions of passengers processed through this third-party platform between November 2020 and June 2025.
The compromised data likely includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and frequent flyer (Lotusmiles) membership numbers.
Vietnam Airlines emphasizes that sensitive data, including credit card details, passwords, travel itineraries, passports, and frequent flyer account balances, remains secure.
The carrier apologized to affected customers and is working with cybersecurity experts to investigate the breach and strengthen data protection measures.
The airline urged customers to take precautionary steps such as changing their Lotusmiles and associated email passwords, being vigilant against phishing scams and fake calls impersonating airline workers, and avoiding sharing personal details on unverified websites.
Vietnam Airlines faced a similar data security incident in 2016 that affected 400,000 frequent flyer members and disrupted airport check-ins.
This incident is one of several recent cybersecurity issues affecting the airline industry globally, including the data breach at Qantas Airways in June 2025.
A few days ago, Qantas disclosed that personal data of approximately 5.7 million customers had been leaked on the dark web by a hacker group called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters. The majority of the compromised data included customers’ names, email addresses, and frequent flyer information such as tier status and points balance.
