Airline Booking Data Leaked, Ships Also Threatened... Companies Reassess 'Cyber Defenses' - 아시아경제

Aviation and logistics industries on alert after hack at external IT provider Five domestic shipping companies adopt integrated satellite communications and cybersecurity solution

Concerns hacking, which began in the financial sector, are spreading to the aviation, shipping and logistics industries, prompting companies to review their cybersecurity systems.

According to industry sources on October 26, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines were notified on October 20 by Amadeus, a global aviation IT company, that personal information had been exposed. Unauthorized access is believed to have occurred after login credentials for an Amadeus system account were used without authorization. The incident is believed to have taken place between August 2023 and September 2026.

The information confirmed to have been exposed at Korean Air so far is customers' booking reference numbers. The two airlines said they had found no signs of direct breaches of their own systems, but are investigating the specific scale of the damage and whether other information was exposed. The incident, which occurred in an external service provider's system and led to the exposure of airline customers' information, has highlighted the importance of managing third-party security.

If misused, booking information could lead to targeted phishing or impersonation scams aimed at customers. If hackers pretend to know the details of an actual flight booking and demand a booking change, refund or additional payment, customers may be more likely to trust the fraudulent messages. If the information is combined with additional personal data, the risk of further harm, such as account takeovers, could also increase.

Hanjin Information Systems & Telecommunication, an IT affiliate of Hanjin Group, also reported that an unauthorized external party accessed its systems, exposing the names and email addresses of 980 users of its IT Service Management (ITSM) site. ITSM is a system for handling reports of IT outages and maintenance requests. The company blocked external access routes and reset the passwords for the accounts involved. However, a hacker group has claimed that it also obtained additional account information and materials related to business partners, so the actual scope of the damage remains under investigation.

Concerns hacking are also growing in the parcel delivery industry, which holds the personal information of tens of millions of people, prompting companies to review protections for delivery information and their management of external accounts. CJ Logistics said it encrypts delivery information entrusted to it by clients and destroys it immediately once the legally required retention period has expired. It also operates a security system that automatically blocks unusual access patterns, such as abnormal logins or bulk searches.

Lotte Global Logistics conducts an annual review of management practices at 1,000 partner companies that process personal information on its behalf. It checks security pledges, personal information destruction confirmations and training records, and assists with improvements when it identifies shortcomings. It also monitors once a month the accounts used by delivery drivers, agencies and contractors to access personal information. Parcel delivery agencies are provided with senders' and recipients' names, mobile phone numbers and addresses solely for delivery purposes.

In the shipping industry, there are also concerns that ships themselves could become targets of cyberattacks. According to industry sources, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating after obtaining information suggesting that a very large crude carrier (VLCC), owned by Hyundai Glovis and managed for safety by HMM Ocean Service, was targeted in a hacking attack. Earlier this month, a Liberia-owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier built by HD Hyundai Samho and managed by H-Line Shipping was also reportedly targeted in an attack suspected to be a hack.

Ship hacking could cause damage on a scale far greater than the exposure of personal information. If attackers infiltrate systems, including the Global Positioning System (GPS) and electronic charts, through satellite communications networks or onboard networks, location data or route guidance could be disrupted. If operational technology (OT) equipment, including engine and cargo control systems, is also affected, ship operations and cargo management could be disrupted. If an attack leads to actual system manipulation or operational disruptions, the risk of collisions or grounding could rise. The suspension of operations by major vessels could also have cascading effects on port operations and cargo delivery schedules.

Domestic shipping companies are working to build response systems that combine communications and security. After SK Shipping adopted an integrated solution combining Starlink low-Earth-orbit satellite communications services with cybersecurity in December 2025, five domestic shipping companies—HMM, Pan Ocean, H-Line Shipping, SK Shipping and KSS Line—signed contracts to procure related solutions in May 2026.

Individual shipping companies are also stepping up their responses. HMM plans to build an offline backup system and improve its maritime cyber resilience through external vulnerability assessments. Pan Ocean is strengthening firewalls and expanding database access controls through its subsidiary POS SM. The focus is on building multiple layers of defense to prevent a breach at any single point from spreading across the entire operational system in an environment where ship and shore-based management systems are connected to external communications networks. Hot Picks Today "Everyone else is retiring"... People who say they'll work until 74: What's going on? [Pension Asset Polarization] 1 "Maybe I'll just go to Japan," they'll say... Why are foreign visitors to Korea "flooding with complaints"? [2026 National Assembly Audit] He Left It in the Car and Forgot... "I Nearly Collapsed with Joy": Man Wins $1.48 Million Lottery "Don't Trust This Woman": Documentary on 'Investment Scammer' Earns KRW 22 Billion in One Week "This Costs 66.3 Billion Won?"... The Story Behind the "Most Expensive Ever" Bra, Made Without a Single Piece of Fabric An industry official said, "We have taken measures such as granting external business partners only the minimum necessary account permissions and strengthening systems to detect access devices, locations and query volumes that differ from normal patterns." The official added, "We are working to ensure that access can be blocked quickly and operations restored if an incident occurs."

Individual shipping companies are also stepping up their responses. HMM plans to build an offline backup system and improve its maritime cyber resilience through external vulnerability assessments. Pan Ocean is strengthening firewalls and expanding database access controls through its subsidiary POS SM. The focus is on building multiple layers of defense to prevent a breach at any single point from spreading across the entire operational system in an environment where ship and shore-based management systems are connected to external communications networks.

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An industry official said, "We have taken measures such as granting external business partners only the minimum necessary account permissions and strengthening systems to detect access devices, locations and query volumes that differ from normal patterns." The official added, "We are working to ensure that access can be blocked quickly and operations restored if an incident occurs."