Lessons from the Qantas Data Breach: What’s Not Being Talked About

The recent data breach at Qantas has sparked widespread concern and debate, but beneath the headlines lie critical lessons that many organisations overlook. This post explores what we know about the breach, the underlying control failures, and the practical steps businesses can take to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

What Happened?

While the full details remain unclear, reports suggest that attackers used a combination of advanced techniques to compromise Qantas’ call centre systems. These included:

• Vishing attacks to gain access to privileged accounts.
• AI-driven voice impersonation to mimic legitimate users.
• User impersonation to bypass authentication protocols.

The breach highlights significant gaps in third-party risk management and user awareness training—areas often cited but not scrutinised in depth. Additionally, there are fundamental controls that we try to highlight below

Qantas’ Response: Transparency or Vagueness?

Qantas has issued periodic updates and implemented additional security measures. They’ve also stated their commitment to working with government authorities and external experts. However, many affected customers feel left in the dark, with limited clarity on the scope of the breach or the lessons learned.

Transparency is critical in such incidents—not just during the investigation, but also in sharing post-incident insights that can help others avoid similar pitfalls.

Numerous Qantas customers have contacted the ABC, expressing their dissatisfaction with the airline. Some have since fallen victim to scams or received security alerts from online platforms, including the federal government’s myGov portal.

Beyond Blaming the User: Control Failures That Matter

While user awareness is essential, it’s not a silver bullet. Blaming end users for failures in technical controls is both unfair and ineffective. Here are two key areas where deeper issues lie:

1. User Access Management
   
   • Why was a privileged account not protected by multi-factor authentication (MFA)?
   • Why was login allowed from unauthorised locations?
   • Where were the identity-based alerts for impossible travel conditions?
   • Why was access granted without device compliance checks?
   • Why is password reset still handled via phone instead of secure self-service options?
2. Third-Party Risk and Platform Security
   
   • Why could the call centre platform export sensitive data without restrictions?
   • What legitimate need justified access to 6 million customer records?
   • Why was customer data stored unencrypted?
   • Where were the data governance and exfiltration detection controls?
   • Was there a 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC) monitoring the platform?

These questions point to systemic issues that go far beyond individual user behaviour.

Our Recommendations

To address these challenges, organisations must adopt a layered, architecture-aware approach to security. Here are some actionable controls—many of which are available to businesses using Microsoft platforms:

Identity and Access Management

• Integrate third-party apps with a unified identity source like Microsoft Entra ID.
• Enforce conditional access policies based on device compliance and location.
• Use risk-based identity protection to detect anomalies like impossible travel.

Password Reset Hygiene

• Implement secure self-service password reset.
• Require MFA for all password resets, especially for privileged accounts.

Data Security

• Apply governance and classification to both structured and unstructured data.
• Deploy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to detect and block mass data exfiltration.

These are core capabilities within Microsoft, check more here Microsoft Purview

Platform Security

• Audit and restrict data export capabilities on sensitive platforms.

SOC/SIEM

• Use Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to monitor for threats like password spraying and failed logins.

Third-Party Risk Management

• Move beyond generic questionnaires—tailor assessments to the specific data and platform risks involved.

All of these are core part of a robust Zero Trust Strategy, check more about it here: Zero Trust Assessment

‍For transparency, we don’t get any benefit by suggesting Microsoft (or other vendor solutions) to customers, nor do we suggest that this is the only solution that can address the issue.

Security Awareness Program

Many cyber incidents are the result of human error, and Qantas serves as a notable example. It's crucial for organisations to educate their employees about cybersecurity threats and best practices. By providing proper training, companies can significantly reduce mistakes such as falling for phishing scams, succumbing to social engineering tactics, using weak passwords, or mishandling sensitive information. Security awareness programs also empower employees to identify and report suspicious behavior, enabling quicker detection and prevention of cyberattack.

Feel free to contact us on info@spartanssec.com to discuss this further.

‍