December 27, 2023 at 12:32PM
Panasonic Avionics Corporation disclosed a data breach impacting an undisclosed number of individuals and their employers after its corporate network was breached over a year ago in December 2022. The breach exposed personal and health information. Panasonic is providing free identity and credit monitoring services for 24 months and is investigating the incident.
From the meeting notes, it’s clear that Panasonic Avionics Corporation has disclosed a data breach affecting an undisclosed number of individuals due to a breach in its corporate network over a year ago, in December 2022. The breach involved a subset of devices and resulted in unauthorized access to personal and health information, including names, contact details, dates of birth, medical and health insurance information, financial account numbers, company employment status, and government identifiers like Social Security numbers.
Panasonic initiated a comprehensive investigation into the incident and has engaged cybersecurity and forensics experts to assess the impact and identify the affected individuals. While there’s no evidence of misuse of the exposed information, the company is taking proactive measures by offering 24 months of free identity and credit monitoring services through Kroll for all impacted individuals and urging them to monitor their reports for signs of suspicious activity.
It remains unclear whether the breach impacted only the company’s employees or also its customers and business partners. Additionally, the company’s spokesperson was not immediately available for further details on the data breach when contacted by BleepingComputer.
In light of this breach, it’s evident that Panasonic Avionics Corporation needs to prioritize its cybersecurity measures, especially given its widespread use of in-flight entertainment solutions on over 15,000 commercial airplanes and its provision of satellite Wi-Fi connectivity to over 3,780 aircraft, which are used by more than 200 airlines worldwide.