“With the help of specialist cyber security experts, we are investigating what data was part of the release,” a company spokesperson said.

Injunction in place to prevent data access

The airline said it had an ongoing injunction in place via the NSW Supreme Court to prevent the stolen data being accessed, viewed, released, used, transmitted or published by anyone, including third parties.

“Qantas continues to work closely with Australian government agencies, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Federal Police.”

What data was stolen?

No credit card details, personal financial information or passport details were compromised, nor were passwords, PINs and login details for frequent flyer accounts.

It has offered a support line and specialist identity protection advice to affected customers.

‘Should have paid the ransom’

The group was holding customers’ data and threatened to release it at 3pm on Saturday AEDT unless Salesforce paid an undisclosed ransom, which it refused to do.

On Saturday, the hacking group said the data was “leaked”, writing: “Don’t be the next headline, should have paid the ransom.”

Data ‘all over the clear web’, says cybersecurity expert

“There’s absolutely no putting the genie back in the bottle.”

He said Qantas would be “lawyered up” and wary of a possible class action suit.