Airline Sues 2 Pilots After They Allegedly Hacked Computer System to Gain Coworkers’ Personal Information

**SkyWest Airlines Takes Legal Action Against Former Pilots Over Data Breach**

SkyWest Airlines, a prominent regional carrier in North America, has initiated legal proceedings against two of its former pilots, alleging they illicitly accessed sensitive employee records. This civil lawsuit was filed on 30 January in the U.S. District Court of Utah, with specific claims of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), breach of contract, and civil conspiracy.

The defendants, identified as Daniel Moussaron from Minnesota and Vikaas Krithivas from Illinois, are accused of gathering personal information, including addresses and phone numbers, of numerous colleagues. According to the complaint filed by SkyWest, IT logs from August 2025 reveal that Moussaron embarked on a series of unauthorised activities aimed at retrieving pilot employee data from the company’s SkyWest Online (SWOL) portal.

The lawsuit alleges that Moussaron’s activities commenced on 29 August 2025, during which he reportedly accessed the personal details of two pilots initially. By the following day, he had allegedly amassed data for 18 additional pilots, systematically working through the seniority list. Over the course of approximately three months, Moussaron is said to have returned to the SWOL portal multiple times, ultimately downloading information for a total of 365 pilots.

In parallel, Krithivas is also accused of accessing SWOL, beginning on 3 September 2025. It is claimed that he downloaded personnel records for nearly 4,970 pilots on that day alone. The complaint suggests that both men collaborated in the data scraping process, aiding each other in collecting information without interfering with each other’s progress.

By December 2025, pilots began to receive unsolicited messages on their personal mobile phones, which SkyWest asserts were unrelated to any legitimate company business. The airline suspects that the personal information obtained by the defendants was utilised to distribute these messages. This raised further concerns when a pilot reported receiving an unsolicited promotional call regarding an external effort, attributing the discovery of a “backdoor” into the company directory to “some really smart people” — a reference believed to be connected to the defendants.

SkyWest Airlines staunchly maintains that the actions of Moussaron and Krithivas contravened their Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), which prohibit the sharing of any confidential information gathered during their employment. The company is now pursuing a jury trial and seeking damages, the total of which will be determined during the proceedings.

Daniel Moussaron has since claimed that his intent was to gather information to support the formation of a pilots’ union, an effort he began organising in April 2025 in collaboration with the Air Line Pilots Association. He maintains that the SWOL portal only permitted access to basic information such as names and supervisory details, and that he used standard browser tools to uncover further information.

Moreover, Moussaron contends that he did not breach security protocols or administrator functions in his efforts. In contrast, Krithivas asserts he was approached by Moussaron to assist in accessing the pilot directory, insisting that he believed Moussaron’s intentions were solely aimed at facilitating unionisation for SkyWest pilots.

As of the latest reports, Moussaron’s legal team submitted a motion on 20 February, requesting the dismissal of the case on the grounds that it constitutes a labour dispute. Both Moussaron and Krithivas are yet to receive responses from SkyWest Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association regarding their involvement in the cases.

This case highlights the complexities surrounding data privacy, employee rights, and the push for union representation within the aviation sector. As the lawsuit unfolds, it is set to attract attention not only within SkyWest but across the aviation industry, where the balance between employee advocacy and corporate confidentiality will come under scrutiny.