FlightAware informs customers about data breach

FlightAware, an aviation data services company that lets you track worldwide flight traffic in real-time, has suffered a data breach. Sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) may have been compromised.

In an email addressed to customers, FlightAware says it discovered a configuration error on July 25 that may have exposed personal information that was stored on their FlightAware account. That includes user IDs, passwords, and email addresses.

Depending on the information customers have provided, the following information may also have been stolen: full names, billing addresses, shipping addresses, IP addresses, social media accounts, telephone numbers, year of birth, last four digits of their credit card number, information about aircraft owned, industry, title, pilot status, and account activity such as flights viewed and comments posted.

Additionally, social security numbers may also have been exposed.

Straus Borrelli PLLC, the data breach law firm that’s investigating the incident at FlightAware, says an unauthorized third-party may have accessed FlightAware’s systems between January 1 and July 25.

As soon as FlightAware found out about the data breach, the company immediately remedied the configuration error. As an additional safety measure, the passwords of all potentially impacted customers have been reset. How many customers are affected by the data breach remains unknown at this moment.

FlightAware offers victims two years of credit monitoring services for free. The company recommends customers to regularly check their banking accounts to make sure no inexplicable expenditures may arise. Victims also should be aware of identity theft and phishing.

As of yet, no hacking group has claimed responsibility for the data breach at FlightAware.