Modern technology has made our life convenient. That said, as it continues to advance and influence our daily lives, cybersecurity has also become a bigger issue than ever.  Cybersecurity In The Hospitality Industry

While cyber threats are a big concern for all industries, it has become a serious issue for the hospitality industry. In recent years, cybercriminals have compromised numerous networks of several major hotel chains, breaching and exposing the data of hundreds of millions of guests. In fact, an industry report revealed that the hospitality industry had ranked third of the most compromised industries in 2019, suffering up to 13% of the total incidents.  

As cyber criminals explore new ways to abuse hospitality cybersecurity, you stay on your toes, learn about emerging risks and challenges, and plan to mitigate the consequences.  

Thus, below are shared key cybersecurity challenges faced by hospitality businesses and possible solutions to overcome them.  

1. COVID-Themed Phishing Cybersecurity In The Hospitality Industry

Did you know that phishing attacks have increased by over 50% since the pandemic? Such attacks can result in account and data breaches. Phishing has become more sophisticated in the past few years. Today, the risk of hotels and restaurants falling for phishing has become greater as employees receive many COVID-related emails and text messages every week. It makes it difficult for employees to stay focused and recognize genuine emails from those with malicious content.  

Solution:

So, how do you protect your hospitality business against phishing attacks? Employee training is the most important step. Training your employees on how to catch phishing emails and what to do can go a long way toward stopping phishing incidents. You want to train them how to scrutinize texts and email messages, checking for grammar, typos, poor spelling, and other red flags.  

Also, train your employees to never disclose sensitive business or personal information, especially in unsecure communication. In addition, you might also want to use the latest software and always keep your data and files backed up. To streamline your data backup and recovery, consider outsourcing an experienced IT company like Protek, which provides reliable IT support in Salt Lake City.

2. Rise Of DarkHotel

Hotel cybersecurity now needs to be careful of a relatively new type of cyber threat–DarkHotel. It is a form of spear phishing that’s highly targeted, accurate, and difficult to protect against.  

Its name is derived from a cybercriminal’s method of tracking a user’s travel plans. In general, hackers use hotel Wi-Fi to find a target (typically business guests such as business owners or C-level executives) to gain sensitive information. They use forged digital certificates, convince a victim that a website or software is safe, and try to steal sensitive data from their devices.  

Solution

With DarkHotel, your guests are responsible for their safety. So, make sure to encourage your guests to use a virtual private network or VPN if they’re going to do business using your hotel’s public Wi-Fi and transacting with sensitive data. Educate them to always double-check any update alerts popping on their devices during their stay and only download apps and files from the official vendor website.  

You also want to consider several strategies to keep your hotel’s public Wi-Fi secure. These may include:

• Setting up firewalls
• Removing default logins
• Disabling remote access
• Eliminating rogue APs
• Securing physical router location
• Keeping software and firmware updated

This way, your guest can have peace of mind using your Wi-Fi and ensure a convenient and satisfying stay. 

3. Increasing POS Attacks

A significant part of hospitality cybersecurity you should watch out for is a point of sale (POS) attack. And as people have more access to various payment solutions, it poses a huge threat to keeping data protected. Plus, this type of attack targets third-party vendors.  

It empties your customers’ and guests’ financial accounts, and the media gets involved. Thus, it results in bad press for your hospitality business and creates financial implications for your business and your vendors.  

Solution

To protect against a POS attack, you need to stay PCI-compliant across all networks, servers, routers, and card readers. Make sure to invest in an end-to-end encrypted POS system and install antivirus on your computer devices. Also, employee training is a key part of securing your POS systems against potential hacks.  

Take Away

Hospitality cybersecurity is a matter that should never be taken lightly. Hospitality cybersecurity breaches can disrupt operations, cause significant financial loss and harm corporate reputation. However, by being well-informed and updated on current cybersecurity challenges and potential solutions, you can better protect your hospitality business, allowing it to thrive and remain competitive. Cybersecurity In The Hospitality Industry

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