Cyberattacks and Covid Maintain Challenges for Aviation and Travel Industry

Industries: Aviation, Travel | Level: Strategic | Source: Cyble

Aviation and travel industries have been identified by researchers at Cyble as lucrative targets for threat actors. Both industries were heavily impacted by Covid. Cybercriminals took the advantage and exploited a large attack surface presented poor cybersecurity practices, legacy systems, and common industry issues with cybersecurity experience, budget, and insider threats. A common modus operandi for threat actors in this space is to steal payment card information, often by masquerading as travel ticketing/booking sites. "Loyalty rewards programs are one of the most sought-after marketing gimmicks adopted by airlines around the world for attracting and retaining their customers. Fraudsters keenly look for methods to take over such accounts and subsequently obtain reward points for monetary gains." Cybercriminals have advertised high-value accounts in cybercrime forums for sale. Database compromises and ransomware remain threat vectors as well. At least five ransomware incidents have been referenced in 2022 targeting the aviation industry from ransomware gangs Quantum, RansomEXX, AlphaVM, and LockBit.

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