What's the news: Akasa Air, which began operations earlier this month, suffered a data breach in August that resulted in unauthorised access to customers' personal data, the airline said in a press release dated August 28. What data was compromised: "User information limited to names, gender, email addresses and phone numbers may have been viewed by unauthorized individuals. We can confirm that aside from the above details, no travel-related information, travel records or payment information was compromised," Akasa stated. While the airline did not reveal how many users were affected, TechCrunch reported that 34,533 unique customer records were at risk. How did Akasa find out about the breach: "We would like to clarify that basis our records there was no intentional hacking attempt, but that the situation was reported by a research expert through a journalist for which we are grateful. As a part of our commitment to be always transparent, we proactively shared this information with our customers who could have been potentially impacted," Akasa noted. The research expert who first identified the breach appears to be Ashutosh Barot, who has published a blog detailing what happened. Why does this matter: Data breaches are undesirable no doubt, but they happen. While companies generally remain evasive, delay the acknowledgement, or provide insufficient details of any breaches, it's refreshing to see Akasa acting quickly and being open about what data was compromised and what steps have been taken. https://twitter.com/LiveFromALounge/status/1563876489740931075?s=20&t=9xsxypDhJ8OWz0Y9b0jvKQ "We will continue to maintain our robust security protocols, engaging wherever applicable, with partners, researchers,…
