Hacking an Airline Nets Teenager $150,000

An unnamed Chinese airline was hacked by a teenager and stole the information of hundreds of passengers. He then used the stolen information to coerce the victims into paying additional fees which netted the teen a cool $150,000.

The hacker, a 19 year old Chinese teen known only by the name of Zhang, made off with 1.6 million pieces of information including names, ID card numbers, phone numbers, email addresses and flight information.

The scheme took place between July 31 and August 20 which exploited a flaw in the airlines computer system. He sent out groups texts, telling them the “the plane is out of order and the flight is cancelled”. They needed to pay extra fees if they wanted to re-book.

The report said the targeted airline lost roughly $12,365 in refunds to passengers affected. The suspect was arrested in Dalian city in November.

Source: SCMP