Popular cruise line Cunard recently shut down its online booking system as a result of a
data breach after it accidentally sent out the personal information for some of its passengers.
The company has not revealed exactly how many people it sent the sensitive data to, but confirmed that 1,225 people had their personal data compromised, according to a report from
MSNBC. The information included in the spreadsheet sent to some customers included other cruise passengers' booking reference numbers, names and emails, but not passport or other sensitive data. However, some of that might be gleaned from the enclosed data.
"This information would allow me to see all the information such as address, contact number and passport information that you need to enter before your cruise," one of the customers who received the spreadsheet email told the news agency.
Ondrej Krehel, the chief information security officer for
Identity Theft 911, writes regularly about the challenges that
data breaches post to consumers and what they can do to help protect their information in the wake of these incidents.
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