Travellers may be more vulnerable to cybersecurity risk as they travel more, whether for work or personal reasons. Check Point Research, a cybersecurity company, reported a 40% increase in attacks on the hospitality sector over the past year.
Canadians are again planning business trips. According to Bloomberg, fall trip bookings have increased sixfold since last year. The giant corporations booked 24% more reservations in the fall of 2019 than in 2022.
Robert Falzon is the Head of Engineering at Check Point, Canada. He stated that there are security threats in all stages of travel, starting from booking and ending with departure.
Falzon stated that people are susceptible to security threats if they don’t take adequate precautions. However, even if they do, the vendor often has poor protection.
“Some of this risk is also on the vendor. He said that if a portal for travel isn’t properly secured or the company is running, it needs to implement basic cybersecurity capabilities, which can pose a problem.
Falzon stated that there are many security concerns when booking a hotel or flight. One of the most significant security issues is password reuse between sites. It is a risk for users to use the same authentication for their Airbnb account as they use for their Facebook ID.
Every week there is a significant release of customer data by one company. All of this contains credentials. Bad actors use these credentials. They’ll find one of these leaks and take the information from it. Then they’ll try to log in with all these services using the user’s knowledge. They can also expose them in many ways.
Falzon also spoke about a new tactic that allows attackers to access people’s data via public WiFi. As most airports, coffee shops, and stores now offer free WiFi, this strategy is gaining popularity. He also noted that these WiFi systems are not subject to security.
“And because of that, it’s very similar if you sit down in a room filled with people you don’t know, such as an airport lobby, then have a loud conversation about something personal with your spouse. He said that everyone around him could hear the conversation. “That’s the same as using public WiFi. We can talk, upload documents or share personal information.
Falzon recommends using protection tools to protect your data from hackers who might access it via public WiFi. Some devices can detect if someone is listening in on your conversations or if the app you use may have been compromised.
A personal hotspot is also an option. They are password protected and connect to your carrier, so your connection is private.
VPN services are another popular method to secure connections over public networks. Falzon warns users that they should be careful about which VPN they use. Falzon stated that some services collect and sell user data.
It’s almost worse because you are paying someone to spy on you. These should be avoided.
Falzon stated that ransomware attacks in the hospitality sector might not be as common as in other sectors. However, Falzon noted that customers are more susceptible to ransomware.
“The hospitality industry has many people with excellent cybersecurity knowledge but many others with little or no cybersecurity knowledge. As a result, people interacting with them need to be more knowledgeable about the risks and challenges they face. This is probably why we see so many of these challenges.
Falzon advised that customers should only book flights directly through the company’s websites when they are planning to travel. Email scams are prevalent, and hackers often attempt to send people malicious links disguised as travel discounts. He advised against using the same passwords on all sites and that you should try to change them with unique IDs.
Falzon also spoke about cybersecurity education and how it should be taught to younger generations, who might not be as aware of how easy it can be to compromise their accounts or data.
He said, “If we could teach younger generations about cybersecurity and basic security hygiene… If we start teaching them about the risks and challenges they face and how to be safer, it will become second nature, just like we don’t look both ways when walking down the street.”
