Qantas told the Financial Times it was investigating whether the Scattered Spider cyber criminal group was behind the attack. The strike comes days after the FBI warned there were signs the group had started to target the global airline sector.

The band of English-speaking adolescent hackers collectively tracked as Scattered Spider are focusing on the airliners - and possibly preparing a pivot to the oil

Qantas, the flag carrier of Australia, announced this week it was the target of a cyberattack that compromised data belonging to 6 million customers. The airline said it is still investigating the full extent of the data breach,