Hackers release Portuguese airline’s customer data, threaten to publish more

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Hackers have published the personal data of 150,000 customers of Portugal’s flagship airline TAP, local media reported Tuesday.

The Ragnar Locker ransomware gang published the data on Monday night and is threatening to publish more information if TAP management does not engage in talks with the group.

In a statement on its page on the dark web, the group said it has the personal data of around 1.5 million customers as well as “a lot of interesting internal corporate files.”

The already published data includes the names, addresses, dates of birth, nationalities, and more information on 150,000 TAP clients, according to Portuguese daily Publico.

TAP confirmed the cyberattack in late August.

On Sept. 2, the airline released another statement acknowledging that it was possible that the customer data was stolen by an “organized cybercrime group.”

“TAP continues to adopt, with the support of an external international entity and in coordination with the authorities, all appropriate containment and remediation measures to protect the company and its customers,” continued the statement.

On Tuesday, TAP told Publico that the hackers had not accessed any credit card information.

American intelligence first identified the Ragnar Locker gang in 2020. By January 2022, it had hacked at least 52 entities in 10 critical sectors, according to the FBI.

Another of its major hits took place in August, when it hacked Greece’s national gas system operator, DESFA, temporarily disrupting IT services and stealing some data.

DESFA said it refused to engage with cyber criminals.