{"id":19905,"date":"2022-09-19T07:19:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T07:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun"},"modified":"2022-09-19T08:16:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T08:16:37","slug":"ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun","title":{"rendered":"IHG hack: \u2018Vindictive\u2019 couple deleted hotel chain data for fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Hackers have told the BBC they carried out a destructive cyber-attack against Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) \u201cfor fun\u201d. Describing themselves as a couple from Vietnam, they say they first tried a ransomware attack, then deleted large amounts of data when they were foiled.<\/p>\n

They accessed the FTSE 100 firm\u2019s databases thanks to an easily found and weak password, Qwerty1234. An expert says the case highlights the vindictive side of criminal hackers.<\/p>\n

UK-based IHG operates 6,000 hotels around the world, including the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Regent brands. On Monday last week, customers reported widespread problems with booking and check-in.<\/p>\n

For 24 hours IHG responded to complaints on social media by saying that the company was \u201cundergoing system maintenance\u201d. Then on the Tuesday afternoon it told investors that it had been hacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBooking channels and other applications have been significantly disrupted since yesterday,\u201d it said in an official notice lodged with the London Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n

The hackers, calling themselves TeaPea, contacted the BBC on the encrypted messaging app, Telegram, providing screenshots as evidence that they had carried out the hack.<\/p>\n

The images, which IHG has confirmed are genuine, show they gained access to the company\u2019s internal Outlook emails, Microsoft Teams chats and server directories.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur attack was originally planned to be a ransomware but the company\u2019s IT team kept isolating servers before we had a chance to deploy it, so we thought to have some funny [sic].<\/p>\n

We did a wiper attack instead,\u201d one of the hackers said. A wiper attack is a form of cyber-attack that irreversibly destroys data, documents and files.<\/p>\n

Cyber-security specialist Rik Ferguson, vice-president of security at Forescout, said the incident was a cautionary tale as, even though the company\u2019s IT team initially found a way to fend them off, the hackers were still able to find a way to inflict damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hackers\u2019 change of tactic seems born out of vindictive frustration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey couldn\u2019t make money so they lashed out, and that absolutely betrays the fact that we are not talking about \u2018professional\u2019 cybercriminals here.<\/p>\n

\u201d IHG says customer-facing systems are returning to normal but that services may remain intermittent.<\/p>\n

The hackers are showing no remorse about the disruption they have caused the company and its customers. \u201cWe don\u2019t feel guilty, really. We prefer to have a legal job here in Vietnam but the wage is average $300 per month.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure our hack won\u2019t hurt the company a lot. \u201d The hackers say no customer data was stolen but they do have some corporate data, including email records.<\/p>\n

TeaPea say they gained access to IHG\u2019s internal IT network by tricking an employee into downloading a malicious piece of software through a booby-trapped email attachment.<\/p>\n

They also had to bypass an additional security prompt message sent to the worker\u2019s devices as part of a two-factor authentication system. The criminals then say they accessed the most sensitive parts of IHG\u2019s computer system after finding login details for the company\u2019s internal password vault.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe username and password to the vault was available to all employees, so 200,000 staff could see. And the password was extremely weak,\u201d they told the BBC. Surprisingly, the password was Qwerty1234, which regularly appears on lists of most commonly used passwords worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cSensitive data should only be available to employees who need access to that data to do their job, and they should have the minimum level of access [needed] to use that data,\u201d said Mr Ferguson, after seeing the screenshots.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven a highly complex password is just as insecure as a simple one if it is left exposed.<\/p>\n

An IHG spokeswoman disputed that the password vault details were not secure, saying that the attacker had to evade \u201cmultiple layers of security\u201d, but would not give details about the extra security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIHG employs a defence-in-depth strategy to information security that leverages many modern security solutions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Hackers have told the BBC they carried out a destructive cyber-attack against Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) \u201cfor fun\u201d. Describing themselves as a couple from Vietnam, they say they first tried a ransomware attack, then deleted large amounts of data when they were foiled. They accessed the FTSE 100 firm\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-19905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nIHG hack: \u2018Vindictive\u2019 couple deleted hotel chain data for fun - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hackers have told the BBC they carried out a destructive cyber-attack against Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IHG hack: \u2018Vindictive\u2019 couple deleted hotel chain data for fun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hackers have told the BBC they carried out a destructive cyber-attack against Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-19T07:19:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-19T08:16:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_12-6328254620b34.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"IHG hack: \u2018Vindictive\u2019 couple deleted hotel chain data for fun\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-19T07:19:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-19T08:16:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun\"},\"wordCount\":676,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/09\/postQueueImg_12-6328254620b34.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ihg-hack-vindictive-couple-deleted-hotel-chain-data-for-fun\",\"name\":\"IHG hack: \u2018Vindictive\u2019 couple deleted hotel chain data for fun - 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