Holiday Inn hotels face cyber-attack

Owner of Holiday Inn, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), has acknowledged a cyber-attack on the business.

IHG, which owns some of the biggest hotel chains in the world, declared in a statement that it was looking into “unauthorised access” to several of its technology systems.

The UK-based business claimed that since Monday, “booking channels and other applications” had been affected.

The Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Regent hotels are managed by it.

IHG stated that it was working to quickly restore all systems to their original state.

IHG acknowledged that it had implemented its response plans, including hiring outside experts to look into the breach, and that it was evaluating the nature, extent, and impact of the incident.

Additionally, the business is in the process of informing regulatory authorities.

IHG’s hotels are still able to run and accept direct reservations, the company said in a statement. “We will be supporting hotel owners and operators as part of our response to the ongoing service disruption.”

But many people who have tried to make hotel reservations have complained.

IHG denied that any customer data had been lost.

Although it was not explicitly stated, the majority of the speculation indicates that it was a ransomware attack.

LockBit breached a Holiday Inn in Istanbul last month, releasing information that had been taken from the business.

If there is a connection between the attacks, it is unknown.

More than 1,200 of the hotel chain’s franchised hotels in the US were impacted by a three-month security breach in 2017.

In the wake of heightened geopolitical tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early this year, there is increased scrutiny on appropriate defences against cyberattacks, particularly on Western financial institutions, during the time of the hack.