2025-10-08T02:58:01Z

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Imagine waking up to find that your personal information is being held hostage by hackers. This is the grim reality facing airline giant Qantas, which is scrambling to navigate the chaos following a major cyberattack that has ensnared nearly 40 prominent corporations. Hackers are threatening to leak sensitive passenger data—unless ransoms are paid by the end of this week.

The notorious hacker group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has reportedly pilfered close to 1 billion records from clients of Salesforce, a titan in the cloud technology arena. Their method? A sneaky tactic known as “vishing” or voice phishing, where hackers impersonate legitimate employees, cleverly convincing unsuspecting IT staff to grant them access.

High-profile companies like Qantas, Toyota, Disney, and Ikea are now on the clock, facing an urgent deadline to kickstart ransom negotiations. Among the stolen data are critical pieces of information including customer birth dates, passport numbers, and purchase histories dating from April 2024 to September 2025. Yes, you read that right—potentially millions of records are at risk!

Australia’s top cyber expert, Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, confirmed during Senate estimates that the hack has also compromised sensitive information belonging to several high-ranking officials. Alarmingly, nearly all federal MPs are members of Qantas' exclusive Chairman’s Club, raising serious questions about data privacy and security on a national level.