Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) has been hit by a cyberattack. It’s going to make accessing and making reservations a bit harder than it needs to be.
In a message to the press and the London Stock Exchange, IHG states
Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG or the Company) reports that parts of the Company’s technology systems have been subject to unauthorised activity. IHG’s booking channels and other applications have been significantly disrupted since yesterday, and this is ongoing.
IHG has implemented its response plans, is notifying relevant regulatory authorities and is working closely with its technology suppliers. External specialists have also been engaged to investigate the incident.
IHG is working to fully restore all systems as soon as possible and to assess the nature, extent and impact of the incident. We will be supporting hotel owners and operators as part of our response to the ongoing service disruption. IHG’s hotels are still able to operate and to take reservations directly.
A further update will be provided as and when appropriate.
In a message on the consumer-facing site, they added
A message to our guests: At this time, you may have challenges booking a new reservation, accessing information about your upcoming reservations and accessing your IHG One Rewards account. We’re working to restore all service as soon as possible. If you have an urgent request for an upcoming stay or need to make an urgent reservation, you can call the hotel directly to make, amend or cancel a booking. Thank you for your patience.
At the time of writing, this message had bee removed.
IHG has so far not disclosed if the attack is a result of ransomware or some other malware, or where the entry point for the compromise was.
This isn’t the first time IHG has been attacked (with other chains having also been hit too). What happens after this is perhaps more important
That password you used on the site? Change it.
Good practice indicates the first thing you should do is change any password/pin that you have on IHG (along with its rewards programme).
And I’d strongly recommend you change it at the first available opportunity – and ensure it to something different to what you have used before (and I don’t mean by advancing your password by one digit – try a totally new password).
If you are in the game of using a password manager which generates strong passwords, it’s time to generate a new password too.
This is also the perfect time to keep an eye on fraudulent transactions too if you store your credit card details on the IHG site (and I would be doing so for a good few months).
Cyber attacks are only going to get worse.
I wish I could say that this will get better. But the blunt is this – they are not.
Whilst technology is wonderful, it has an annoying thing that requires it to work – the human in the middle. And humans accidentally click on links, infect computers and chaos there on it.
And whilst good endpoint protection (what was antivirus some years ago) is still an idea, it cannot cover every threat.
There are lots of ways from the simplistic to the paranoid when you use your device – but it pays to be smart and check what you’re clicking first.
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