Personal information for more than 8,000 applicants to become pilots at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines was stolen when hackers broke into a database maintained by a recruiting company.
The breach at Austin, Texas-based Pilot Credentials occurred April 30, and the airlines learned about it on May 3. They notified affected job seekers last week.
According to letters that the airlines were required to file with regulators in Maine, hackers gained access to names, birth dates, Social Security and passport numbers, and driver’s and pilot-license numbers of applicants for pilot and cadet jobs.