It has been revealed that hackers are exploiting the dark web to steal air miles from UK residents and go on luxury holidays with flights, hotels and car rentals all discounted. The Times reported that one British couple discovered their British Airways Avios points were stolen after a room was booked in Spain under the names Olga and Dmitry. Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault commented below.
Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault:
“Companies usually focus on protecting customers’ money, such as their payment card details, and any sensitive data contained in customer records.
“However, there are many ‘shadow currencies’ in operation that are just as valuable as currency, and potentially less well secured or monitored. Airmiles is just one example of such a target that is attractive to criminals. Others can include gift cards, vouchers, or non-traditional banks like PayPal. In 2016 it was reported that Starbucks had over $1.2bn loaded onto its cards, while PayPal had an eye-watering $13bn.
“Outside of banks, credit cards, and cold hard cash under the mattress, consumers – and in some cases many companies don’t give a second thought to other assets of value – and these are often the assets organisations need to be most careful about securing.”
