Cyber attacks increases by 60% in tourism sector this year

Thursday, July 21, 2022

The global average number of attacks against organisations in the tourism and leisure sector has increased by 60 per cent this year compared to the first half of June 2021, according to a report.

As the pandemic has brought tourism business to a standstill and not allowing people to travel many hackers and cyber criminals are taking advantage of these people who are eager to travel again.

The recent report also revealed that the global average number of weekly attacks against travel and leisure organisations increased by 60 per cent in June 2022 compared to the first half of June 2021.

In addition, according to another report, despite airport delays and growing congestion, international travel is expected to increase by 11 percent, which means it will reach pre-pandemic levels.

Sometimes computer attacks can go unnoticed. However, businesses are among the most vulnerable throughout the year.

In this case, it should also be mentioned the ransomware attack on the Kaseya network on July 4, 2021, by the Russian-speaking criminal group REvil, affected over 1000 organisations worldwide.

Russian ransomware threat group Revil launched this attack against technology provider Kaseya by compromising and distributing malware through Kaseya’s remote VSA software and patch management tool.

REvil initially requested $70 million but later lowered it to $50 million – for a universal decryptor, as well as rewards for victims of individual organisations from $50,000 to $5 million, based on the size of the organisation.

However, here are some tips that should be taken care of for summer computer security:

Be careful with public Wi-Fi networks

Don’t share your credentials, disable automatic connection to Wi-Fi/Bluetooth networks

Use multi-factor authentication

Install security patches

Beware of ATMs

Moreover, the tourism sector in Europe has been very affected, by the situation provoked by the Coronavirus.

Therefore, in an effort to help this sector to recover, the European Member States of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) previously emphasised the importance of jobs, professional training as well as sustainability and innovation.

In this regard, the Secretary General of UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili, noted that since the beginning of the pandemic and in the recovery phase of the crisis, Europe has led an example in the management of the tourism sector.

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