FOUR people with a Shenzhen air ticket agency were jailed 11-18 months for making money on the personal information of air passengers. The air ticket agency was authorized to log onto the ticket system of airlines to sell tickets for domestic and international flights. A man surnamed Li, a vice manager of the air ticket company, expanded the primary account into more than 70 subsidiary accounts so the employees could conveniently access and check ticket information and sell tickets. When the company experienced operation difficulties in 2016, Li and his network administrator, Wang, leased out 40 subsidiary accounts to earn more than 70,000 yuan (US$10,220). Wang also earned 30,000 yuan by leasing several accounts that he had kept privately. A former network administrator with the company surnamed He expanded the subsidiary account he had received from Wang and leased the third-tier accounts for a profit. Those who rented the accounts could access it and download 3.4 million pieces of personal information of air passengers. In June 2017, the airline found some people had downloaded the personal information of air passengers in batches through the authorized accounts to check the information of celebrities using their names and ID card numbers. The airline then reported the incident to police and the four were caught. (Han Ximin) |