Date: 6 January 2025
The hospitality sector has fully recovered after the past few years when the global health crisis disrupted the international travel industry. However, that doesn’t mean hotels and booking agencies are spared from danger. In terms of cybersecurity, companies will always need to be prepared for anything that could compromise their clients’ most sensitive data. With technology becoming even more sophisticated, hackers are developing new tools and strategies to exploit the hospitality sector’s weaknesses.
For hotel and resort managers, investing in cyber defences shouldn’t focus only on compliance with data privacy laws. Considering the financial and reputational impact a data leak may inflict, the hospitality sector will need to improve overall cyber resilience to prepare for more advanced attacks. Let’s look at how companies can steer clear of current cyber threats and future risks.
1. Understanding the Threat Landscape
To adequately prepare for more sophisticated cyber threats, stakeholders in the hospitality industry should know what they’re up against. Hackers are now using more intricate approaches to compromise outdated systems with social engineering becoming a prevalent tactic among those targeting the industry.
Hackers are also employing SQL injections and ransomware attacks to target not only large hotel chains but also small-scale inns and travel lounges. SQL injections involve inserting malicious code into a database query, allowing hackers to access, manipulate, or steal sensitive information stored in the database. This can lead to unauthorised access to customer data, including personal and financial information, which can be devastating for both the business and its clients. Ransomware, on the other hand, is a type of malicious software that encrypts a company’s data, rendering it inaccessible until a ransom is paid. This can disrupt operations, lead to significant financial losses, and damage the reputation of the affected business. By taking these sophisticated and varied threats into account, companies can allocate adequate time and resources to develop and implement robust defence strategies.
2. Performing a Security Audit
Learning about the most common cybersecurity hazards in the hospitality industry will only get hotel managers so far. To fully prepare for these threats, they need to think about the security needs of their organisations. A thorough audit can do more than reveal gaps in a hotel’s security posture; it can also point towards approaches and platforms that can perform well against specific threats and enhance other areas such as client data protection and point-of-sale security.
Doing so requires reaching out to an IT consultancy company specialising in cybersecurity for the hospitality sector to ensure that possible solutions align with a company’s most pressing security needs.
3. Training Employees on Cyber Wellness
As much as hotel managers want to equip their teams with hospitality sales tips and orient frontline staff on effective care for guests, they should also emphasise helping their people acknowledge their role in improving data security. Employee training should also consist of controlling access to booking systems and hardware such as PCs and communication devices. It is also important to impart cybersecurity training for executives as they will be the ones leading from the front in case of a cyber crisis.
With hackers employing social engineering tactics to steal login credentials, there should be protocols monitoring internal activities. Employees should also be taught how to secure passwords and identify phishing attempts via email or chat. With a well-trained team, the risk of a data leak dramatically decreases.
4. Focusing on consumer data protection
Keeping a hotel safe from hackers isn’t just a matter of making sure that internal systems are optimized against recurring threats. It should also involve setting up a system that secures consumer data once it’s captured for verification and validation purposes. A hotel that manages a large database of guest information should implement data encryption features and use secure cloud-based storage solutions.
They should also capture only essential guest information to lessen their clients’ exposure. This would mean using secure online booking sites that use two-factor authentication and other means to prevent cases of fraud. Equally important is letting guests know the type of information needed to process their bookings in line with data privacy regulations.
Endnote
For the hospitality sector to continue delivering quality services to travelers and guests, it shouldn’t overlook the importance of improving cybersecurity. By keeping these essentials in mind, they have a better chance of scaling their operations and keeping their reputations intact.
