Hackers have breached Booking.com
Booking.com has reported an unauthorised breach of customer data. According to the company, suspicious activity was detected involving third parties who managed to gain access to some booking information. This was reported by ThePublic, citing The Guardian.
Upon discovering the incident, the company took steps to contain it. In particular, PIN codes for the relevant bookings were updated, and users were informed of the situation.
Booking.com did not specify exactly how many people were affected by the cyberattack. A company spokesperson noted that no financial data had been accessed.
A letter to customers stated that hackers may have gained access to certain data related to previous bookings. This includes names, email addresses, postal addresses, telephone numbers, and other information that users may have provided to accommodation providers.
This is one of the latest instances of cyberattacks on the platform. Previously, the company reported an increase in the number of fraudulent schemes involving requests for payment details, ostensibly to confirm bookings.
In 2018, attackers used phishing attacks to gain access to the accounts of hotel staff in the United Arab Emirates, allowing them to obtain booking data for over 4,000 users.
At the time, Booking.com reported the incident to the Dutch data protection regulator with a 22-day delay, for which it was fined €475,000.
Booking.com is part of Booking Holdings, headquartered in the US. The group also owns OpenTable, Agoda and Kayak, and has over 24,000 employees worldwide.
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