Airline passenger details easy prey for hackers, say researchers
by Alex Hern in Hamburg from on (#26TQE)
Worldwide system used to coordinate travel bookings between airlines is insecure and easy to exploit, experts reveal
The worldwide system used to coordinate travel bookings between airlines, travel agents, and price comparison websites is hopelessly insecure, according to researchers.
The lack of modern security features, both in the design of the system itself and of the many sites and services that control access to it, makes it easy for an attacker to harvest personal information from bookings, steal flights by altering ticketing details, or earn millions of air miles by attaching new frequent-flyer numbers to pre-booked flights, according to German security firm SR Labs.