British Airways faces £183-M fine over data breach

LONDON: The UK plans to fine Bri- Elon Musk tish Airways £183.4 million ($230 million) over computer attacks that exposed customer data, marking the first major British application of far-reaching European Union rules requiring companies to tighten anti-hacking measures. The proposed penalty relates to data theft affecting about 500,000 customers between June and September last year, the UK Information Commissioner's Office, which protects data privacy, said in a statement Monday. BA parent IAG SA said the fine amounts to 1.5% of the airline’s 2017 revenue.

The ICO said the hack involved BA’s website traffic being diverted to a fraudulent site through which customer details were harvested, adding that security was compromised by poor protection of functions related to log-in, payment card and travel booking details, as well name and address information.

“We are surprised and disappointed in this initial finding from the ICO,” British Airways Chief Executive Officer Alex Cruz said in the statement. IAG shares fell 1.5% to 449.9 pence at 12:13 p.m. in London. The ICO said in a statement that it will carefully consider the carrier's position before reaching a final decision.