0 delegates attended the second annual event in London recently. Lee Hayhurst reports
‘Travellers risk cyberattacks on open networks’
People are particularly vulnerable to attacks from cyber criminals and state-backed hackers when travelling due to the devices they carry and using unsecure Wi-Fi networks.
Jens Monrad, senior intelligence
analyst at FireEye, said while many emerging nations were investing heavily in offensive cyber capabilities, too few were focusing on defensive systems. He warned that not all hackers
were after money, with many, particularly those who are state‑backed, seeking confidential information to use to their advantage. “When we look at travel, this is
where we are vulnerable. At home I have a secure environment, I can lock my doors,” Monrad said. “When we are travelling we are
very vulnerable. This is something we are seeing cyber criminals and hostile states taking advantage of.”
The hospitality sector is particularly vulnerable to attack because front desk operatives are easily duped into opening emails they think are bookings or other customer enquiries. Hotel guests are also vulnerable
when they use open Wi-Fi networks because it is simple and cheap for cyber criminals to set up a parallel network and fool people into logging on. Monrad offered three key
tips to keeping secure when travelling: “First, be aware of your surroundings. “You hear conversations in public places all the time that
MONRAD: ‘When we are travelling we are very vulnerable’
include information criminals can use to get access to your business and your customers.
“Second, do not trust open
networks. If you need to connect to the internet use a virtual private network to make sure communications on your device are encrypted. Open networks are open to everybody. “Third, minimise your attack
surface area. Why do we bring our laptops with us when travelling? They are a very high attack surface area. Give your executives a tablet.”
‘Aviation industry must learn to collaborate’
Collaboration is the biggest challenge the aviation sector faces when crises happen, according to Amadeus’s Rob Sinclair-Barnes. The strategic marketing director of the airlines
division at Amadeus, the company that operates the technology that sits behind many airlines, said firms must become comfortable sharing data. “It’s not about stealing your customers,” he said.
“Customers will come to you for the quality of your service, not because you have their email address.” Sinclair-Barnes said disruption in the airline business represents a direct cost to the sector of $60 billion a year or 8% of total global revenues. This figure does not include the knock‑on impact
on hotels, airports, tour operators and travel agents. “The world works on the flow of people. You block
that up and very quickly passengers start to overflow. Our goal is to make sure everyone in travel gives better customer service. “Collaboration is easy to say but very hard to do.
Everyone asks who owns the passenger? We need to get over that. Information sharing across the world is the biggest challenge in our industry. Without collaborating we won’t go anywhere as an industry.” Amadeus has developed a crisis management
product for airlines, which Qantas uses in Sydney and has been shown to deal with 3,000 passengers in just 75 minutes. It is now being rolled out globally.
SINCLAIR-BARNES: ‘Sharing data is big challenge for the sector’
23 November 2017
travelweekly.co.uk 63
“Do not trust open networks…use a virtual private network to communicate”
Social media puts firms on back foot in times of crisis
Brands are in a race against time to set the agenda when a crisis happens due to social media.
Chinmai Sharma, chief
revenue officer at Taj Hotels, which was at the centre of the Mumbai terrorist massacre in 2008, set out the timeline of a typical crisis. He said within five minutes
the first reports will appear on social media. Within 20 minutes posts
on Facebook and Twitter will already have been shared up to nine million times. If firms have not grasped the story within an hour, rumour will become truth. Sharma said in India anything that happens with such a well‑known brand like Taj “spreads like wildfire” online due to so many people having web-connected devices. He said since 2008 Taj Hotels had used social media ‘listening’ technology, which has reduced response times from 24 hours to 15 minutes. “Timing is super‑ important. We pick up noise [about our brand] really early,” said Sharma.
PICTURES: STEVE DUNLOP
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