Qantas shares dropped 3.6 per cent after it revealed the hack on Wednesday. The airline is the latest Australian company to be affected by a cyber attack, with telecoms company Optus, healthcare provider Medibank Private, a number of Australian pension funds and port operator DP World all hit in the past three years.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sounded the alarm on the expanding activities of a cybercriminal group known as Scattered Spider, now targeting the aviation industry in its latest wave of ransomware attacks.