Chinese Hackers Attack US Travel Industry

Sources told Bloomberg News that investigators have traced the latest attack to the same group of China-linked hackers who perpetrated the Anthem, OPM and United hacks, and that some elements are consistent with those observed in the OPM hack. O and travel reservations platform provider Sabre Corp SABR.O, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the investigations.

The China-based hackers reportedly targeted the systems of United Continental Holdings Inc, which the airline detected in May or early June, Bloomberg reported last month.

Sabre was not immediately available for comment. The two share network infrastructure as Sabre was once a subsidiary of American Airlines.

Sabre stated it had “lately discovered of a cybersecurity incident” and was investigating however couldn’t say what knowledge might have been stolen or who it believed was accountable.

The attack on The US Office of Personnel Management laid bare 21.5million Social Security numbers and background checks containing sensitive information in June 2014.

Sabre confirmed the breach; American Airlines, however, says it is investigating whether hackers actually gained access to its computers.

While they are not totally out of the woods, customers such as Sherwood should not worry too much as they do not seem to be the center of focus for hackers. Unsurprisingly, the IP addresses matched activity found in the American’s system logs. If the attacks are linked the combined information about government employees and air travel information could allow hackers to track where those employees have been around the world and for how long. “At this time, we are not aware that this incident has compromised sensitive protected information, such as credit card data or personally identifiable information”.

Norton said American officials are confident that the airline’s systems have not been breached by the same type of attack.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington DC told Bloomberg any accusation alleging his country’s involvement in the hacking incidents was “unfounded” and ‘counterproductive.’. “American said that they were investigating, but had not yet determined, whether data had been exposed”.