Security risks exposed at Marriott, BA, easyJet, American Airlines

An investigation by Which? has revealed that hundreds of cyber security risks were found on numerous travel firms’ websites, potentially putting customers’ data at risk. Security vulnerabilities were found on Marriott, easyJet, British Airways, Lastminute.com, and American Airlines websites. Out of the hundreds of vulnerabilities found on these companies’ websites, 18 were classed as ‘critical vulnerabilities’ on Marriott’s internet properties, and 12 were in the same category for the BA websites. The number of critical vulnerabilities for American Airlines, Lastminute.com, and Easyjet was 7, 4 and 2, respectively. Editor of Which? Travel, Rory Boland, said: “Our research suggests that Marriott, British Airways and easyJet have failed to learn lessons from previous data breaches and are leaving their customers exposed to opportunistic cybercriminals. Travel companies must up their game and better protect their customers from cyber threats, otherwise the ICO [Information Commissioner’s Office] must be prepared to step in with punitive action, including heavy fines that are actually enforced.” Boland is calling for an opt-out scheme that deals with large-scale data breaches to make companies more accountable for the loss of their customers’ data.<br/>