Cyber Attacks Against Booking.com Ramp up Ahead of Christmas Rush

Cyberattacks are on the rise.

With the Christmas season fast approaching, hackers are escalating their cyber attacks on Booking.com - one of the biggest platforms for holiday makers, with worldwide customers from the UK, Indonesia, Singapore, Greece, Italy, Portugal, the US and Netherlands.

Hackers have been increasingly tricking vulnerable and unsuspecting Booking.com customers, and are formulating ways to receive administration portals of hotels which use the service.

Shifty tactics are being used by cyber criminals in order to scam the customers of Booking.com into sending them money, including posting adverts on dark web forums asking to help find victims. Cybercriminals also are offering up to £1600 for login details of hotels available on Booking.com to target customers.

Andy Ward, VP International for Absolute Software, commented: “Especially as we enter the holiday period, resilient Zero Trust is essential for organisations to maintain visibility and, crucially, control over their networks. Cybercriminals often target the weakest point, such as an unaware customer or a third-party supplier, to gain entry and move laterally across the network to cause a major breach. Through resilient Zero Trust, central security teams have visibility over the entire network as suspicious behaviour on a device or application is immediately flagged, giving security teams the ability to shut down or freeze isolated devices. Preventing lateral breaches without having to shut down the entire network is essential during busy times, and organisations should be on a full alert, supported by continuous monitoring technology.”

A cybersecurity case in Japan meant that a hacker pretended to be a traveller and had been sending infected to specific hotels for a while, revealing the hotels’ credentials for accessing Booking.com. This allowed the hacker to mimic the hotel staff and send messages to the customer making reservations, claiming advanced payments.