Hotels hot spot for credit card fraud

February 11, 2010 |

Hackers steal card data from the hospitality industry more than any other - even more than financial service companies - according to a new study. Out of the 218 data-breach investigations from 24 countries the company studied, 38 percent of the attacks occurred on hotels. What's more, it took an average of 156 days for the business to realize it.

Half of the attacks were conducted with remote access applications, which allow hackers to take control of a computer from an off-site location. Of the breaches that used remote access, 90 percent exploited default or weak passwords to steal data. About 42 percent of the attacks used third-party connections as a means to gain access, and less than 1 percent used e-mail-based malware.

"Attackers are using old vulnerabilities to get in and out," Percoco said. "They know they aren't going to be detected [in many cases], so they are camping out and not trying to hide because no one's watching."

SpiderLabs' report did not single out which hotels have been breached.

Get the full story at CreditCards.com

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