Airline Management Admits Unauthorized Distribution Of Personal
Data
The pilots of US Airways, represented by the US Airline Pilots
Association (USAPA), expressed their outrage Wednesday at the
airline's acknowledgement that its management personnel aided in
unauthorized distribution of the highly confidential personal data
of thousands of pilots. USAPA is currently cooperating with a
criminal investigation into this matter.
US Airways recently admitted that a management pilot accessed
and transferred a confidential database containing the personal
information of thousands of US Airways pilots, including names,
addresses and Social Security numbers. The transferred database may
also have included pilot passport information. The data was given
to a third party pilot group, which has acted to disrupt the
ongoing negotiations between USAPA and US Airways currently under
the auspices of the National Mediation Board and undermine
USAPA’s bargaining objectives.
"US Airways pilots are infuriated at the data breach perpetuated
by a management official of the company for which they work,"
stated Mike Cleary, president of USAPA. "Thousands of us have been
exposed to identity theft that could impact us for the rest of our
lives. Further, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation has yet to
determine the extent of the breach, we are concerned about the
security of ALL information provided to US Airways –
including our families’ personal information. US Airways
collects personal information on US Airways employees' family
members and information from passengers, such as credit card
data."
USAPA has been working with the FBI since November 2010 in an
attempt to determine the exact scope of the data breach. In his
letter alerting the FBI, the Transportation Security Administration
and the Federal Aviation Administration to USAPA’s concerns,
President Cleary said. "We believe the unauthorized access to this
confidential information may pose a direct threat to national
security, our represented pilots’ safety, and their
professional standing. The exact scope of the breach is unknown,
but unauthorized access to airline pilot passport numbers coupled
with pilot residential addresses could potentially be used to forge
U.S. commercial airline pilot passports, or identities, in order to
gain access to international or domestic commercial aircraft or
flights – thereby posing a direct threat to our
nation’s security."
"In light of this breach, USAPA has concluded that US Airways
cannot be trusted with confidential or sensitive information,"
President Cleary said Wednesday. "The union is also extremely
disappointed by the Company’s lack of aggressive action to
address this issue, first denying that a significant breach had
even occurred, then equivocating concerning the extent of that
breach, all the while taking no remedial action against the Company
personnel involved in the breach. Significantly, the Company has
also failed to take steps to provide lifelong protection to the
pilots directly affected and adequately address the potential
national security issues for all of our pilots and passengers."
USAPA says it is is committed to spending the time and resources
necessary to protect its members, while it believes that US Airways
sits on the sideline. US Airways management has informed USAPA that
it is relying on the “assurances” of the very parties
responsible for the data breach that the confidential information
will not be misused. "This is, of course, ludicrous," President
Cleary responded. "It’s analogous to a bank robber promising
he will not spend the stolen loot. We are demanding swift and
aggressive action as we simultaneously take significant steps to
hold both US Airways and the specific responsible parties liable
for the damage caused."