Malaysia Airlines allegedly breached by Qilin

Malaysia Airlines, the country's flag carrier, was claimed to have been compromised by the Qilin ransomware gang, Cybernews reports.

However, Qilin's Feb. 22 listing of Malaysia Airlines did not include any details regarding the breach or samples of data purportedly pilfered from the airline's systems. Experts warned that Qilin, which was the most prolific ransomware operation last year, could opt to provide more information about the incident which could have led to unauthorized access to passenger records, employee files, operational records, vendor contracts, and internal communications in the coming days or weeks.

Such a development comes amid a slew of ransomware intrusions against Malaysia's aviation sector in recent years, including a Qilin attack against the Kuala Lumpur International Airport last March that triggered significant digital infrastructure disruptions. Major Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia Group also had data from almost 5 million passengers and employees stolen following a Daixin Team attack in 2022.