UK airports operator hit by cyber-attack and customer data accessed

Three UK airports have been hit by a “cybersecurity incident” in which the data of about 8.7 million customers was accessed, Manchester Airport Group (Mag) has said. The company, which operates Manchester Airport, London Stansted and East Midlands airport, said that “at no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised” during the incident and that neither Mag nor the system hacked held customers’ bank or payment details. It is understood that most of the data accessed was restricted to customer email addresses and related to wifi sign-ups in the airports’ terminals.

Phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes were also accessed, the company said, while operations at all three airports remained “unaffected”. In an email to customers, London Stansted Airport said: “We would urge you to be particularly cautious of unexpected emails, calls or text messages claiming to be from us. We will never contact you unexpectedly to ask for payment or banking information.

We apologise for any inconvenience or concern this may cause.” A Mag spokesperson said on Thursday: “Manchester Airports group has been subject to a cybersecurity incident by an unauthorised third party. We have informed and are working with the relevant authorities. At no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised.

Airport operations remain unaffected and customer parking services continue to operate normally.” The spokesperson said that neither Mag nor the system accessed hold customers’ bank or payment details. They added: “We would like to reassure customers that Manchester Airport Group takes the security of customer information extremely seriously and we apologise for any inconvenience or concern caused.”