Emails sent to affected passengers, urging them to update their passwordLawyers say seeking damages is difficult without suffering actual loss
Cathay Pacific Airways fliers were on Thursday still reeling from the shock of the airline’s massive data leak revealed the night before, but lawyers said it would be hard for the affected passengers to seek damages unless they suffer actual monetary loss.
The airline is in the process of alerting affected passengers, offering them “ID monitoring services” by a third-party provider.
The victims included Hong Kong resident Marcus Langston. Cathay Pacific on Thursday night alerted Langston via email that his personal data including travel documents and date of birth were involved in the leak.
“After I googled the British Airways case, my main concern was the data being used on the ‘dark web’ as fake identification,” Langston said, referring to media reports that the leaked data was up for sale on the dark web or a crime-linked deep layer of the internet.
As Langston noted that British Airways could face a class-action lawsuit to compensate affected customers, he said Cathay should do more than provide an email urging him to update his password.
Other fliers were awaiting notification about whether their personal information had been compromised in the breach.
