The pandemic has led to a 600% increase in attacks against large and small hotels, restaurants, and other companies, forcing businesses to prioritize cyber risk management. This is especially true now that business trips are resuming and work from anywhere policies are being adopted by companies worldwide. Guests are increasingly concerned about the security of the Wi-Fi they use to connect to corporate assets while working remotely.
The hospitality industry is an enticing target for criminals mainly due to their databases, which store gigabytes of sensitive customer data, including Payment Card Information (PCI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Hackers view this as a lucrative assault vector for crimes such as identity theft and credit card fraud. Besides, the spike in lateral movement attacks has shown that hackers are turning unprotected networks into gateways for targeted attacks on businesses.
With regards to share of incidents, hospitality ranked third, with 13% of cybersecurity breaches taking place within this industry.
- Trustwave Global Security Report 2020
The consequences of such security incidents range from reputational damage to millions due in insurance payments, mitigation measures, and ransoms. Therefore, investing in proper data security can benefit both the consumer, as well as the business from loosing profits.
