Online travel agency warns of AI phishing

As travelers rush to book their summer holidays, Booking.com’s internet security boss says you should beware of supercharged AI fraud.

Marnie Wilking, chief information security officer at the Netherlands-based travel giant, said generative AI had caused an explosion of online phishing scams and the hospitality industry, which had long been spared, had also become a target.

“Over the course of the last year and a half, there has been a 500 to 900 percent increase in attacks across all industries, especially phishing, around the world,” Wilking said.

Phishing fraud is a type of cyber attack in which criminals attempt to trick victims into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial account information.

Travel websites can offer a big reward to phishing scammers because travelers are often asked to share credit card and family information or upload proof of identity.

With generative AI tools, the scammers can now work in multiple languages ​​and with good grammar, Wilking said.

They also really benefit from the helpful nature of hospitality, she added. To be helpful to a would-be guest, a hotel owner is “probably going to open the attachment” that is actually malware, she said.

Wilking said that to stay safe, travelers and hosts should sign up for two-factor authentication when browsing online.

In addition to providing a username and password, two-factor authentication requires users to verify their identity through an additional factor, such as a one-time code sent to their mobile device.

And “don’t click on anything that looks suspicious, even if you think it’s real,” she added.

Agence France-Presse