Fabian Sommer/dpa
The world’s largest booking platform, Booking.com, has been the target of a hacker attack. Customers have already been informed. But what else should you do?
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Unauthorized third parties gained access to sensitive customer data such as names, addresses, telephone numbers and specific booking details of millions of users of the Booking.com platform.
- The incident is one in a series of data breaches and phishing attacks; the company was already fined heavily in 2018 for late reporting of a hacker attack.
- While Booking.com emphasizes the security of financial information and has introduced protective measures such as PIN updates, the company has so far remained silent on the exact number of customers affected.
Booking.com was forced to admit on Monday that hackers had gained access to a considerable amount of internal booking details. The list of compromised data reads like a privacy profile: names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other information that customers have shared with the accommodations as part of their reservation. Addresses are not included, as Booking told blueNews on Tuesday afternoon.
What you can do now
- Password hygiene: Change your Booking.com password immediately. If you use the same combination of email and password for other services, you should also update them.
- Phishing vigilance: Be skeptical of emails, WhatsApp messages or text messages relating to your trip. Hackers use the captured data for personalized phishing. Booking.com or hotels will never send you a link asking you to confirm your credit card details by message.
- Credit card monitoring: Check your statements for the next few weeks for the smallest unauthorized charges.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA): Activate two-factor authentication in your booking account and for all important online services. This provides a crucial additional layer of protection, even if your access data is known.
- Use the right to information: You have the right to request detailed information from the company about exactly which of your personal data was affected by the data leak.
Damage limitation behind closed doors
A company spokesperson originally confirmed the incident to specialist media such as TechCrunch, but remained vague about the details. “Suspicious activity was detected” and measures were immediately taken to contain the problem. According to the company, these protective measures included updating the PIN numbers for the affected reservations. Booking Switzerland confirms this approach and adds: “We have specialized teams and use machine learning-based tools to monitor, detect and block suspicious activity around the clock.”
Nevertheless, the question of the extent remains controversial. Booking.com, which lists over 28 million accommodations worldwide, has so far refused to make any concrete statement on the number of users affected. The only thing they are trying to reassure is the security of the means of payment. “We can confirm that there was no access to payment details or financial information of customers.”
Screenshot Booking.com
A familiar pattern of vulnerability
The current hack is not an isolated incident, but is part of a series of security flaws that have tarnished the image of the industry leader. Booking.com has already hit the headlines in the past due to sophisticated phishing attacks. Hackers infiltrated the IT systems of individual hotels in order to send messages to guests directly via the official portal – usually with a request to re-verify credit card details due to alleged problems.
The incident brings the systemic risks of the platform economy back into focus. When a single service provider bundles the data streams of 30 million accommodations, it inevitably becomes a “high-value target” for global hacker groups. While Booking.com is now trying to seal the digital floodgates, experience shows that leaked data records often only reappear months later in the form of personalized fraud attempts or identity theft.
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