Booking.com announced that some of its customers’ data related to their reservations had been exposed to a security breach, in an incident that highlights the risks facing data security in the field of digital travel.
The company explained that unauthorized parties were able to access some reservation details, and indicated that it had already begun informing the affected users during the past few days, without disclosing the total number yet.
According to available information, the data that was compromised is believed to include: names, email addresses, phone numbers, accommodation addresses, reservation details, as well as some correspondence between users and accommodations via the platform.
The company confirmed that payment information and bank accounts were not affected by the incident, and that user accounts were not directly compromised. However, the company took precautionary measures that included resetting reservation PINs and alerting customers about phishing messages.
Experts warn that the danger of this hack is not only limited to the data that was leaked, but also extends to the risk of this data being exploited in targeted fraud operations, through messages that appear to be sent from hotels or from the platform itself.
Previous reports indicate that the digital travel sector has become an increasing target for cyber attacks due to the volume of sensitive data being handled, and this incident re-raises concerns about the level of information security on global booking platforms.
