It's been her first real test as the Qantas CEO and finally four days on from a cyber attack, Vanessa Hudson is now facing the fallout. She's finally apologised to customers over the data breach.

Qantas' CEO has issued a public apology after a significant data breach exposed the personal information of six million customers. The airline took 48 hours to notify affected individuals and four days before the CEO addressed questions, initially only from a single reporter. 

The breach did not compromise financial information, passwords, or passport numbers, according to the CEO, who promised further details would be provided to customers. The incident comes as Qantas was attempting to rebuild its reputation following previous controversies, with the CEO emphasising the importance of transparency and trust in the company's ongoing response.

Qantas CEO apologises to customers over cyber attack

Grounded from view all week, Qantas' CEO has finally tried to clear the air publicly with the six million people whose personal information was exposed in a major data breach. First and foremost, I'd like to apologise to them. We take this seriously and we are going to do everything that we can to communicate transparently to you. But the timeline of events says otherwise. It took Qantas 48 hours to reach out to affected customers, four days to face questions, but only from one reporter. You know, it hasn't been a stellar performance over the last 24 hours. The breach is the latest blow to a brand still bruised by accusations of ripping off loyal customers and a track record of not responding very well, which prompted a corporate clean up. I get the sense that they were starting to rebuild their reputation and now this has happened. So terrible timing. There's never a good time for a crisis like this. They've got an opportunity in how they respond to really build more trust. One Vanessa Hudson is desperately trying to seize. Trust is something that is earned and trust actually also comes from being upfront and transparent and that is what we are doing. She said all six million affected customers have been contacted, confirming no financial information, passwords or passport numbers were compromised and promised to provide specific details to customers on their individual cases next week. I'd love a bit more information and I'd love to get that information from a reassuring human being. The Qantas boss will be back on home soil this weekend, hopefully ready to answer more questions to more cameras. It's been a turbulent week, but it's not over yet. Tallulah Thompson, 10 News.

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