Aviation International News, a leading trade journal, is reporting a data breach at Wheels Up-owned Avianis exposed customer data at two leading private jet charter and management companies.
The incident apparently took place in December. The article identified Solairus and Jet Aviation, a unit of General Dynamics. Solairus is the 8th largest Part 135 operator by flight hours. Jet Aviation ranked 18th in 2020, according to Argus TRAQPak.
Wheels Up said in a statement to Private Jet Card Comparisons, “In December of 2020, Avianis was subject to an unauthorized data security incident related to an issue with the Microsoft Azure cloud-based file storage system. This incident impacted a subset of customers that use this storage system connected with the Avianis platform, but all other Wheels Up and Avianis systems and databases were not affected.”
It continued, “We responded immediately by implementing our incident response plan, engaging internal resources as well as outside experts to identify and remediate the issue within 24 hours. The security and confidentiality of our customers’ information is of vital importance to us, and as a result, we will not disclose any further information.”
The AIN article links to a notice of data breach filed by Jet Aviation with the Vermont attorney general.
It states, “On December 23, 2020, our third-party IT vendor, Avianis, notified us that there has been unauthorized access to its network on December 5, 2020, and potentially access information related to our customers and employees.”
The Jet Aviation letter says “a combination of passport, travel visa, driver’s license information, and credit card information” may have been compromised.
Jet Aviation told impacted customers who “wish to subscribe to a security monitoring service…we will bear that cost.”
Solairus, in fact, issued a press release on Tuesday. It states, “Solairus advises its employees and clients to remain vigilant for signs of unauthorized activity by reviewing their financial account statements. If they see charges or activity they did not authorize, Solairus suggests they contact their financial institution immediately.”
It is offering impacted customers a complimentary membership to Equifax ID Patrol credit monitoring service if their Social Security number and/or driver’s license number was involved.
However, notification is impacted because “Solairus does not have current addresses for all such individuals.”
Wheels Up acquired the tech platform in 2019.
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