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The United Nations’ civil aviation authority says the personal data of 42,000 possible recruits, dating back to 2016, has been compromised by a prominent hacker.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has released more information following the 7 January revelation that a hacker had compromised its network and was offering the stolen data for sale on a popular hacking forum.
Natohub, a hacker previously responsible for leaking data from the US Department of Defense and the United Nations, claimed in a 5 January post to have more than 42,000 documents containing the personal information of possible ICAO recruits.
ICAO has now confirmed the data is legitimate.
“ICAO can confirm that the reported information security incident involves approximately 42,000 recruitment application data records from April 2016 to July 2024 claimed to be released by the threat actor known as Natohub.
“The compromised data includes recruitment-related information that applicants entered into our system, such as names, email addresses, dates of birth, and employment history. The affected data does not include financial information, passwords, passport details, or any documents uploaded by applicants,” it said.
Natohub shared two of the recruitment forms in their forum post, and other data includes physical addresses, citizenship information, phone numbers, emergency contact details, marital status, and whether or not the recruit has ever been involved in criminal proceedings. Of the documents, 148 appear to relate to Australian residents.
ICAO added that the scope of the breach is limited.
“We can confirm that this incident is limited to the recruitment database and does not affect any systems related to aviation safety or security operations,” ICAO told Cyber Daily.
“Our investigation and response efforts continue, and we have implemented additional security measures to protect our systems. We are also working to identify and notify affected individuals.
“ICAO takes the privacy and security of personal information extremely seriously. We will provide further updates as our investigation progresses.”
ICAO assists in the coordination of international air travel, navigation, and flight inspections and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. A total of 193 nations are members, including Australia.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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