Recently, the World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC) and Microsoft released a report called "Codes To Resilience Report", which focuses on cybercrime and best online practices and shows that cybersecurity has become one of the challenges in the recovery of the tourism industry.
Photo network
Reducing cybersecurity risks is a priority for an industry that is predominantly vulnerable to small and medium-sized businesses (80 percent), the report said. According to the report, 72% of SMEs in all industries in the UK, US, and Europe have been attacked at least once.
Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC, said technology and digitalization play a key role in making services across the industry more fluid, but the impact of cyberattacks poses significant financial, reputational and regulatory risks.
The WTTC study also highlights four areas that travel businesses need to focus on in strengthening cyber protection, including protecting identity data, understanding the impact of the pandemic, and regulatory legislation. It also added that training employees and implementing "Zero Trust" in cybersecurity can help businesses prepare for attacks.
Devon Bryan, Global Chief Information Security Officer at Carnival Corporation, said: "Cyber resiliency is not about helping our organization recover from cyberattacks, it is about fighting cyberattacks. ”
Carnival discovered a ransomware attack in mid-2020 that accessed the personal data of guests and employees. The breach came weeks after CWT was hit by a ransomware attack, and media reported that the travel management company had paid $4.5 million to the hackers.
In addition, aviation technologist SITA experienced a what it called a "highly sophisticated" attack last year involving passenger data in its Horizon passenger service system. The attack affected the frequent flyer programs of Singapore Airlines, Finnair and British Airways.
