Manchester, Stansted, and East Midlands airports hit by data breach: What was stolen and what customers need to do
Key Points
- Hackers accessed data belonging to around 8.7 million Manchester Airports Group customers.
- Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports are all affected by the breach.
- Stolen data covers email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registrations and postcodes.
- No bank or payment details were held on the system the attackers reached.
- MAG says airport operations and car parking services are running normally.
Manchester Airports Group said an unauthorised third party accessed customer data belonging to about 8.7 million people across Manchester, Stansted, and East Midlands airports.
The stolen records relate to car park, lounge and Fast Track bookings, along with in-airport WiFi sign-ups at all three airports.
MAG said the data covers customers’ email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registrations and postcodes.
For the vast majority of those affected, the only detail involved is an email address, most of it collected through WiFi sign-ups inside the terminals.
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“At no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised,” a MAG spokesperson said.
The group said it contained the risk immediately and brought in specialist advisers to protect customers and systems, and it has informed the relevant authorities.
Neither MAG nor the system the attackers reached holds customers’ bank or payment details.
Airport operations ran normally throughout the incident, and customer parking services continue to work as usual.
MAG said it became aware of the incident on Tuesday (25 August), although the data appears to have left its systems a few days earlier.
The group told customers they need to take no action, but it urged them to treat unexpected emails, calls and text messages claiming to come from MAG with caution.
More than 32 million passengers travelled through Manchester Airport last year, alongside more than 30 million at Stansted and four million at East Midlands.
