On 19th May 2020 it was reported that in January 2020 EasyJet was subject to what they describe as a “highly sophisticated” cyber-attack, resulting in the personal data of over 9 million customers being “hacked”. Detailed information about the attack is sparse, with most media sources repeating the same bare facts. Some of the information below is based on the media reports and emails sent to EasyJet customers. At the time of writing there was no information about this on the Information Commissioner’s Office web site.
What little information is available points to a number of breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which could result in the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) imposing a monetary penalty.
However, in view of the ICO’s reassessment of its regulatory approach during the current Coronavirus pandemic and reports that it has further delayed the imposition of its £183 million fine against British Airways, readers may be forgiven for thinking that EasyJet will not be on the receiving end of a fine any time soon. In any event, it seems likely that the ICO will be forced to consider the fact that EasyJet, along with the whole airline industry has been very severely affected by the Coronavirus and faces huge financial pressures.
The consequences for EasyJet in respect of this breach will remain unclear for many months and may disappoint customers whose personal information has been stolen.
Breach of Security
All Data Controllers must comply with the data protection principles set out in Article 5 of GDPR. In particular, Article 5 (1) (f) (the security principle) requires Data Controllers to process personal data in a manner that “ensures appropriate security” of the personal data that they process. That includes protecting against “unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.” This obligation to process personal data securely is further developed in GDPR Article 32 which requires Data Controllers to implement “appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk”. The steps that a Data Controller has to take will vary, based upon “the state of the art, the costs of implementation and the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing as well as the risk of varying likelihood and severity for the rights and freedoms of natural persons”. In other words, Data Controllers must implement security measures that are “appropriate to the risks” presented by their processing, which reflects the GDPR’s risk-based approach. So, for example, a village hairdresser will not be expected to take the same amount of security precautions as an international airline handling personal data (and often Special Category Data) about millions of people. We do not know what cyber-security precautions EasyJet had in place to prevent this-attack, however it is arguable that it should have reviewed its security arrangements (which it may well have done) in the wake of the British Airways attack that was widely reported in September 2018.
There is no doubt that the incident amounts to a “personal data breach” under GDPR Article 4 (12) since it involves a breach of security leading to the unauthorised access of the personal data of about 9 million people. Of the 9 million people affected, 2,208 had their credit card details stolen.
Breach Notification
When a Data Controller becomes aware of a “personal data breach” it must notify the ICO “without undue delay, and where feasible not later than 72 hours after becoming aware of it” (GDPR Article 33). The controller is relieved from this duty where the breach is “unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons”. That does not appear to be the case here given both the scale of the attack and the fact that the hackers gained access to customers’ credit card details and travel plans. The media reports indicate that the ICO was informed about the attacks that took place in January 2020, but there is no indication exactly when it was informed. If EasyJet did not notify the ICO within the time frames of Article 33, then this constitutes a further breach of the GDPR.
Phased notification is allowed though when a Data Controller does not have all the full details of the data breach within the 72 hours. This is likely to be the case in the EasyJet case where they instructed an immediate forensic investigation to establish the nature and extent of the breach, but the initial notification should have been within the 72 hour period as per Article 33.
Notifying Easy Jet Customers
GDPR Article 34 requires a Data Controller to notify any Data Subjects when the personal data breach is “likely to result in a high risk to the[ir] rights and freedoms”. The threshold for communicating a data breach to Data Subjects is higher than for notifying the ICO and therefore it will not always be necessary to communicate with affected Data Subjects.
Data Controllers must assess the risk on a case by case basis. However, the Article 29 Working Party Guidelines on Breach Notification suggests that a high risk exists when the breach may lead to identity theft, fraud or financial loss. This would appear to be the case in the EasyJet breach. The GDPR does not state any specific deadline for notification but it does say that it should be “without undue delay”.
Media reports suggest that EasyJet customers were notified in two separate tranches.
The first notification to customers, whose credit details were stolen, was sent by email in early April. The second tranche, to all other customers, was sent by 26th May.
Customers who received emails at the end of May were advised that their name, email address and travel details were accessed (but not their credit card or passport details).
The purpose of notifying customers is to enable them to take steps to protect themselves against any negative consequences of the breach. The email suggested that customers take extra care to avoid falling victim to phishing attacks.
It remains to be seen whether EasyJet customers were notified “without undue delay” given that the airline became aware of the breach in January but the first notification to customers whose credit card details were stolen was not until end of April. It is plausible that this may have been too late for some customers. If this is the case then not only would this result in a further breach of the GDPR, but could expose EasyJet to claims for compensation under GDPR Article 82. Indeed, according to SC Magazine, a law firm has already issued a class action claim in the High Court. Note that according to Google v Lloyd (and now under GDPR) claimants not do now have to show direct material damage to claim compensation.
Will Easy Jet Be Fined?
The details available to date certainly suggest a breach of Article 5 (1) (f) and possibly Article 32. In addition, it may be the case that EasyJet failed to notify their customers without undue delay and have breached Article 34. Breaches of these provisions could theoretically result in the ICO imposing a monetary penalty of up to 4% of EasyJet’s total worldwide annual turnover in respect of a breach of Article 5 and up to 2% of its total worldwide annual turnover for breaches of Articles 32 and 34.
It is too early to compare the circumstances of the EasyJet breach with the British Airways breach. The numbers of Data Subjects whose credit card details were involved in the BA attack was reported to be half a million (compared to 9 million with the EasyJet attack). However the number of people whose credit card details were stolen in the BA attack was much greater (about 380,000 booking transactions), although British Airways notified its customers immediately. Therefore the scale and gravity of the two breaches are not identical. The ICO will need to take these factors into account in deciding on the level of any fine. The maximum that she could fine is (as stated above) up to 4% of EasyJet’s annual turnover. It is not clear what this figure is but the EasyJet Annual Report for 2019 states that the company’s total revenue in 2019 was £6,385 million. In contrast BA’s total revenue was £12.2 billion. The fine will almost certainly be smaller than that imposed on British Airways, but it really remains to be seen how the ICO will react to the financial pressure that EasyJet are clearly under as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. All we can do is watch this space.
This and other GDPR developments will be covered in our new online GDPR update workshop. Our next online GDPR Practitioner Certificate course is fully booked. A few places left on the course starting on 2nd July.
