British Airways: a record fine of 230 million for data theft?

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Between June and September 2018, data from 500,000 customers were stolen. 

In accordance with the general regulations of the European Union adopted in May 2018, the airline has breached its data protection obligations.

A fine may be imposed by the United Kingdom

230 million is the amount of the record fine that the UK could impose on British Airways for data theft. It would be the first time, since the adoption of the rules of the European Union, that their applications induce such an important fine. 

According to the International Trade Organization, the fraud was observed through a diversion of traffic from the British Airways website to a fraudulent site where the customers' information could be collected and thus stolen. Online security provided by the airline is denounced and considered insufficient in terms of the number of connections.

On the side of the company, obviously, the incident was downplayed: officials said the period involved "only" from August 21 to September 5 and concerned only 380,000 transactions.

The fine could amount to 1.5% of the turnover of the airline

In general, fines can reach 4% of a company's annual turnover. 

According to British Airways' parent company, International Airlines Group, it represents 1.5% of the airline's 2017 revenue, at no less than $ 230 million. 

British Airways has clearly failed to encrypt the data on its website to ensure the security of its customers' data. This is all the more part of the general regulation of the European Union since May 2018.