Double blow: New data breach hits stranded Australians as Emirates suspends flights out of UK

Australians stranded in Europe were dealt a double blow on Friday with the Australian government acknowledging it had inadvertently revealed sensitive details of all passengers booked on a repatriation flight from London following news Emirates had suspended all flights from the United Kingdom. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade contacted passengers booked on a government organised repatriation flight scheduled to depart London for Darwin on Saturday, informing them of the data breach, which is at least the fourth such data breach of stranded Australians information by Dfat since August. The email said the full name, gender, date of birth, email address, passport details (number, expiry, issuing country), Australian citizenship status, phone number, current location, and flight booking reference of those booked on the flight had been “unintentionally copied to one of the department’s consular clients on 24 January”. Meanwhile, on Friday the Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, said the Australian government remained open to scheduling further repatriation flights after Emirates suspended all flights from the UK from Friday. The suspension followed a British government announcement it was closing its border to passenger flights from the United Arab Emirates in an attempt to stop new Covid-19 strains entering the country. “If more flights are needed, more will be provided,” Hunt said, noting the government announced 20 extra repatriation flights earlier in January.<br/>