Manchester Airports hackers just posted the data of 8.7 million people online — failed extortion attempt triggers data dump sale

The hacker group responsible for the MAG hack has posted the data online PII is included within the data, putting victims at risk of targeted phishing and scams "MAG is confident that we have taken effective measures to protect our customers" The hackers behind the Manchester Airport hack have posted their trove of data on 8.7 million people online after failing to extort the Manchester Airport Group.

The data stolen during the attack included personally identifiable information (PII) such as email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registrations and postcodes.

"MAG is confident that we have taken effective measures to protect our customers and we have contacted all those affected, including reaching out to all those with upcoming bookings to advise them of additional support," the company said in a statement.

Hackers look for money elsewhere When hackers successfully breach systems and steal sensitive information, such as customer data, they will attempt to extort the company they stole it from for money.

In return, the hackers promise not to release the data.

FulcrumSec has claimed responsibility for the attack.

They tried to extort MAG but the company refused to pay, in line with what governments and cybersecurity agencies are advising.

By not paying the hackers, it removes the financial incentive to steal the data in the first place.

In order to recoup some money from their efforts in hacking MAG, the hackers have now posted the trove of data online in the hopes that another cybercriminal group will pay for access to the information.

The information contains valuable information that hackers can use to target the victims of the data breach, launching highly specific phishing campaigns.

For those affected by the MAG breach, this could include scams that use the email addresses, car registrations and postcodes of victims.

In the hackers post online, they claim the database is “half a terabyte, and every byte of it is pure PII” (Via BBC ).

“Reported exposure of booking history, travel dates, vehicle information, purchase references and customer profiles is a major escalation from what’s already been revealed about the Manchester Airports Group data breach,” said David Sancho, Senior Threat Researcher, TrendAI.

“This appears to be much more than a simple contact-data breach.