What to do if you’re affected by airport cyber security breach

If you’re affected by the breach, which also affected customer data from two other airports (East Midlands and London Stansted), you might wonder what you can do about it.

MAG confirmed that while customers’ bank and payment details had not been accessed, personal details such as phone numbers, email addresses, vehicle registrations and postcodes had.

In an email to customers, the airport said: “Our investigation has identified that some of your personal information relating to airport car parking, lounge, Fast Track bookings and on-airport WIFI sign-ups has been accessed by an unauthorised third party.”

What to do if you are affected by the airport cyber security breach

If you’re affected, it’s understood that you might want to know what your next steps are and if you’re entitled to any compensation following the breach.

Jordan Kluth at John Fowlers Solicitors said that while you and companies can try to protect your data, “hackers are just sometimes one step ahead”.

He explained: “Under the current Data Protection Legislation, individuals can only bring a claim if they can show that the company who holds their data has failed to keep their data secure by not upholding to the expected standards. i.e. there has been an infringement of the current laws and guidelines.

“The reason for this is because the regulators know that there is no perfect block out there which will stop any hacker getting in.

“Rather they expect the companies who hold and process the data to have a certain level of security.

“Secondly, the victim of the data breach, i.e. the person who has had their data stolen, must have suffered some sort of damage, whether this is material damage such as a financial loss, or a non-material damage such as anxiety or loss of privacy.

How to avoid scams

“Anyone who has been affected by a data breach will need to start by raising their complaint with the company who held the data first, and if no resolution can be found, the complaint can be taken further.

“At this point, the victim should consult a legal professional who will advise them on next steps.”

He added: “If you believe that your data has been compromised, you should look to change passwords and enable two factor authentication where possible.

“Speak to your banks and look to either freeze accounts that are at high risk, or place fraud alerts on the accounts.

“You should also continue to monitor the situation as closely as you can, keeping an eye on what is coming in and going out of your bank accounts.

“You should also consider subscribing to credit reporting companies, who will update you if there is any change to your credit score.

“The wider picture is what will come next. The data hackers who now have your data will be looking for an entry point.

“This may come over as a phishing email or may be a call or a text message.

🚨 BREAKING: Manchester Airport Group says it has been subject to a cyber attack which breached customer data

Free Wifi sign up data from Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airport has been stolen

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— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) August 27, 2026

“It’s important to stay vigilant and before giving any further data over the phone, or clicking a link, verify with the company that the hacker may be pretending to be.

“Usually if something sounds too good to be true, it usually isn’t true!”

MAG apologised for the breach and urged its customers to be vigilant to avoid potential scams.

Danny Jenkins, co-founder and CEO of ThreatLocker, said: “Aviation is a prime target for cybercriminals because of the economic disruption an outage can cause and the potential danger that can come with it.

“Based on what has been reported so far, it appears the breach was limited to systems containing customer data and did not impact airport operations, which is extremely important because when operational systems are breached in aviation, cybersecurity can quickly become a real-life safety issue.

“This looks like the damage is more on par with a traditional consumer data breach, which, of course, isn’t a good thing, but when aviation is breached, things can be significantly worse.”

MAG confirmed the airports were able to continue operating as usual, as operations were not affected by the breach.

Are you worried about your data following the cyber security breach affecting three UK airports? Let us know in the comments below.