Last week, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) confirmed it was hit by a large cyberattack that targeted its Holiday Inn chain. Elements compromised included operational systems and  booking channels. In total over 4,000 customers and 15 employees were affected.

IHG confirmed the attack in a notice to the London Stock Exchange. The precise nature of the attack is as yet unknown — but several cybersecurity experts believe that the signs point to a possible ransomware attack.

IHG operates over 6,000 hotels around the world, including some of the most popular brands, such as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Regent. Due to the attack, the company was unable to accept online bookings during the week, both direct and via third-party websites like Expedia and Booking.com. IHG has confirmed that full services have since been restored.

Unfortunately for IHG and its customers, the company has experience when it comes to cyberattacks. In August, the Istanbul Holiday Inn was hit by a LockBit ransomware attack. Whilst in 2016, the company suffered a huge data breach that it failed to disclose until the following year — leading to a $1.5 million class action lawsuit.

How Trend Micro Can Help

Here at Trend Micro, we have an app specifically designed to meet the challenges that data breaches bring. Available on Android and iOS, ID Security scours the dark web for any mention of your data (SSN, email address, passwords, codes etc.) in the event of it being sold or maliciously shared by cybercriminals.

At the same time, large cyberattacks often lead to an uptick in phishing attacks, particularly in the retail and hospitality industries. For this threat we recommend our popular Trend Micro ScamCheck tool, for detecting scams, phishing attacks, dangerous links — and it’s FREE!

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