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What are some of the key cyber-risks
faced by the hospitality industry?
JEFF OGDEN, GENERAL MANAGER –
MIDDLE EAST AND INDIA, MIMECAST
The hospitality industry, like any other
major sector, faces a significant increase in
targeted attacks. According to Mimecast’s
newly released State of Email Security
report 2019, targeted attacks like phishing,
impersonation fraud and ransomware have
increased over the last year and have caused
major disruption, including loss of customers,
money and data.
More than 86% of UAE respondents
experienced an impersonation attack and
77% of impersonation attack victims
experienced a direct resulting loss. And the
thing that hurt these organisations the most
was data loss.
“
WHEN CRIMINALS
GET THEIR
HANDS-ON
CUSTOMER
INFORMATION
STORED BY A
HOTEL GROUP
OR SIMILAR,
THEY CAN STEAL
IDENTITIES AND
OPEN BANK
ACCOUNTS,
CREDIT CARDS
OR LOANS IN A
VICTIM’S NAME.
The hospitality industry is known for hosting
vast amounts of data. These organisations
have to store and process personally
identifiable information in order to operate
www.intelligentcio.com
Jeff Ogden, General Manager – Middle East
and India, Mimecast
effectively but it also means that they
are left with the responsibility of safely
storing confidential information like credit
card data and proofs of identity, including
passport numbers.
This automatically makes this industry a
significant target. Just look at the Marriott/
Starwood breach that happened in
December 2018. Marriott’s loyalty rewards
programme database was breached and
exposed the personal information of over
500 million people, making it the second
largest breach in history.
When criminals get their hands on customer
information stored by a hotel group or
similar, they can steal identities and open
bank accounts, credit cards or loans in
a victim’s name. They can also use this
information for targeted social engineering
and impersonation attacks, which means the
cybercrime cycle continues.
HARISH CHIB, VICE PRESIDENT,
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, SOPHOS
A disconnected approach to cybersecurity
is the most exacerbating security risk
faced by organisations including the
hospitality industry. To understand the
root cause of these issues, we first need
to look at the threats we’re trying to stop.
Cybercriminals don’t use single techniques
INTELLIGENTCIO
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