British Airways slapped with UK data watchdog's biggest-ever fine
[BENGALURU] Britain's data protection watchdog said on Friday it has fined IAG's British Airways (BA) £20 million (S$35.2 million) - its biggest such penalty to date - for failing to protect personal and financial details of more than 400,000 of its customers.
"Their failure to act was unacceptable and affected hundreds of thousands of people, which may have caused some anxiety and distress as a result," the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said of a cyber attack the airline suffered in 2018.
IAG shares slid to session lows following the announcement.
By 9.17am GMT, they were 3 per cent lower at 93.2 pence.
The regulator said it considered representations from BA and the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis on their business before setting a final penalty, which was considerably less than the £183.4 million proposed last year.
The ICO said its investigators found BA should have identified weaknesses in its security and resolved them with measures available at the time, which would have prevented the cyber attack.
GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
British Airways did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
REUTERS
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Transport & Logistics
Toyota and Nissan pair up with Tencent and Baidu for China AI arms race
China's largest auto show displays all-electric future, local brands dominate
Toyota hits record annual output, sales on robust demand
Nissan, Mazda roll out new models for China as they aim for comeback
VinFast chief plans to invest US$1 billion more from his fortune in EV maker
XPeng CEO says its software, AI upgrades to enter ‘super fast cycle’