Low-cost airline Ryanair has been the victim of a major banking hack, with more than $5 million stolen from its business account last week, reports City AM.

The company has reported the crime and asked the Criminal Assets Bureau in Dublin to help it recover the money, which is said to have been transferred electronically to a bank in China. It is also working with authorities in Asia.

The Irish company uses American Dollars to buy fuel and, as the Irish Times suggests, may have had the money siphoned off as part of one of these transactions.

“Ryanair confirms that it has investigated a fraudulent electronic transfer via a Chinese bank last week," the company said to the Irish newspaper. "The airline has been working with its banks and the relevant authorities and understands that the funds – less than $5m – have now been frozen.The airline expects these funds to be repaid shortly, and has taken steps to ensure that this type of transfer cannot recur."

V3 notes that British Airways was also the victim of a computer hack in March. Although the company cleaned out its user accounts and changed log-ins, it was later revealed that the attack was made possible by a leak from another provider.

These recent hacks are comparatively traditional, as security experts debate the safety of adopting modern technology on-board flights. Although most sources agree that flights are safe for now, some sources have suggested that a worse case scenario could involve airplanes being hijacked through the passenger Wi-fi.

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