Holiday Inn owner, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), has confirmed the company has been hit by a cyber-attack recently on the 6th of September, 2022.

Ultimately, this attack had negative effects on customers as well as the company’s reputation. However, at Solutions 4 IT, we recognised this attack as a daily reminder of why cyber security for companies is such as essential aspect of a business, that is often overlooked.

The owner of Holiday Inn – IHG, which has some of the world’s largest hotel chains, stated that they are investigating “unauthorised access” to a number of its technology systems. Additionally, they have said that “booking channels and other applications” had been disrupted since Monday.

Following this disruption, we can all say for sure that booking issues will cause many customers to feel understandably irritated. This was evident in social media such as Twitter:

As you can see, clients here have tweeted to Holiday Inn yet there is no response, even after 9 days. This is arguably exacerbating the situation, responding to queries and feedback is key to building a reputation with customers in our mind at Solutions 4 IT. However, it is always important to remember the issue at hand- the company’s cyber security is what caused this problem in the first place.

Our conclusion

On the bright side, IHG did state that no customer information was leaked or stolen from this attack. However, it would be a mistake to downplay the potential danger of this attack- companies in the past have completely gone out of business after a successful cyber-attack, such as Telefonica.

There is no official statement yet, but from speculating the nature of the attack, we think that this attack was responsible by Ransomware.

Ransomware is a type of malware that threatens to publish the victim’s personal data or permanently block access to it unless a ransom is paid, this can be monetary but can also be access to accounts or networks.

Our solution

There are many different elements of Cyber security for companies. Employee awareness of cyber threats and training on how to appropriately react to them is one of the most effective ways at reducing the risk of your business suffering from a cyber-attack like this one. At Solutions 4 IT, we offer training programmes for your employees that covers all the above at an affordable price. If you’d like to learn more about this service, click here.

On the other hand, a company’s network security measures and physical hardware plays just as big of a role in ensuring effective Cyber security. We realise that not everyone is Cyber aware in terms of network security, but at Solutions 4 IT we can help you with this.

We even offer a free site audit of your company to evaluate your entire network and give an incredibly useful report that outlines its strengths and weaknesses. This audit is a great opportunity for you to see what we can do for your company, with no cost, it’s a win-win!

If you are interested in learning more about our Network security services, click here. Alternatively, if you’d like to book a free site audit with us to decide whether we’d be the right fit for your business, click here.