Austrian Hotel Hit By Ransomware – Guests NOT Locked In

Following the news about a luxury lakeside hotel in the Austrian Alps, Romantik Seehotel Jägerwirt, recently paid a large ransom in Bitcoins, after its systems were attacked by a ransomware attack.

It was initially reported that the attack had locked hotel guests in their bedrooms until the ransom was paid. However, the owner of the hotel Cristoph Brandstaetter, told Motherboard that, “This is totally wrong, it was just a normal cyber-attack and no guests were locked in.” Tim Erlin, Sr. Director, Product Management at Tripwire commented below.

Tim Erlin, Sr. Director, Product Management at Tripwire:

“Welcome to the Internet of Things. Connected devices provide incredible convenience, but they also provide new opportunities for compromise. Locking up computer systems may be a significant inconvenience for a hotel , but locking doors could affect guest safety.

Ransomware not only requires backups of your data; it also requires a backup plan for the services affected. In order to be prepared, you need to have a service plan for the duration of an outage while you restore systems.”