American Airlines reveals data breach — two months after it was discovered (Connecting the Dots: American Airlines, Samsung, Bill Clinton & the Soros Funded Think Tanks All Networking)

American Airlines reveals data breach — two months after it was discovered (Connecting the Dots: American Airlines, Samsung, Bill Clinton & the Soros Funded Think Tanks All Networking)

The accounts were compromised as the result of a phishing campaign. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

By MITCHELL CLARK

Sep 20, 2022, 10:54 AM PDT|

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/20/23363257/american-airlines-data-breach-disclosure-phishing

American Airlines is alerting some of its customers to a data breach, where an “unauthorized actor” got access to names, birthdays, mailing and email addresses, phone, driver’s license and passport numbers, and “certain medical information” by compromising employee email addresses (via Bleeping Computer). According to a sample letter from the company, dated September 16th, the airline discovered the breach in July and began an investigation with a third-party security cybersecurity firm.

I asked the company if it knew how long the attackers had access to the email accounts before the breach was discovered. In response, spokesperson Andrea Koos sent the airline’s statement, which contains a few details about what happened but doesn’t answer the question.

“American Airlines is aware of a phishing campaign that led to the unauthorized access to a limited number of team member mailboxes. A very small number of customers and employees’ personal information was contained in those email accounts,” Koos said, before adding that the company is “currently implementing additional technical safeguards to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.” The company says it has “no evidence to suggest” that customers’ personal info has been misused.

Unfortunately, the lag between discovery and disclosure isn’t exactly uncommon. Samsung recently disclosed a breach almost a month after it had discovered it, and earlier this year, the public learned about a 2020 hack on the federal court system. While it’s understandable that investigations can take time, especially when it comes to determining who to notify, it does mean that bad actors have access to people’s info for quite a while before they even know to watch out for problems. In this particular instance, American Airlines is offering people whose data was affected two free years of Experian’s identity theft protection service.

Connecting the Dots:

AMR Corporation is the parent company for American Airlines.

Judith Rodin is a director at the AMR Corporation and was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the Center for American Progress.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a supporter for the Center for American Progress and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Center for American Progress was a funder for the Samsung Electronics Co.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.  

Samsung Electronics Co. was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

William J. Clinton is the founder of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and the Samsung Electronics Co. paid him speaker fees.

Booz Allen Hamilton was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. was a managing director at Booz Allen Hamilton and is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Judith Rodin was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and is a director at the AMR Corporation.

AMR Corporation is the parent company for American Airlines.

Resources: Past Research

Collins touts surviving DC-to-Maine American Air flights (Past Research on American Airlines)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2014

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/01/collins-touts-surviving-dc-to-maine.html

Samsung to Customers: Mind Your Mouth Because We're Listening (Past Research on Samsung)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/02/samsung-to-customers-mind-your-mouth.html

‘I Had Nothing to Do With That!’ Obama Dodges Blame For Skyrocketing Premiums (Past Research on Samsung)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2016

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/10/i-had-nothing-to-do-with-that-obama.html