Booking flights and accommodation online means vacationers share a lot of sensitive information with travel businesses – names, addresses, passports, and more besides. However, this data may be at high risk of hacker interception – especially if travel firms don’t take steps to protect it adequately enough.
Recent industry research shows that 92% of small travel agencies surveyed experienced at least one cyber threat in 2025, with 66% specifically experiencing data compromise. This alarming data indicates there are still likely to be security gaps that travel brands need to tighten up amid growing threat sophistication.
Here’s what travel firms of all sizes need to watch for, and how they can boost their resilience.
Why travel businesses are a growing target for cybercriminals
The type of data collected and processed by travel businesses is highly valuable to cybercriminals. Identifiable names and addresses, credit card details, and even some ID records are either easy to sell on to other criminals or to use for identity fraud.
What’s more, travel agencies typically connect to many different data sources and platforms, which means that they have large “attack surfaces” – with multiple potential points of entry to try and break.
Sophisticated hackers also know that travel companies require 24/7 availability, and that any downtime could leave travellers without access to flights, accommodation, or support at short notice. That constant exposure is why a growing number of travel firms now turn to managed detection and response (MDR), handing continuous oversight of their booking systems to an outside security team that flags and shuts down unusual activity at any hour before it turns into a breach.
With ransomware, for example, attackers can lock down travel firm operations until they make payments to regain access – and they will be under pressure to meet demands to keep operations running, and to preserve their reputations.
And, it is not just small companies at risk. In 2024, Booking.com warned that AI had driven a 500-900% rise in phishing attacks across industries, with travel a prime target.
Where booking systems become a security liability
Booking systems are hackable through a variety of means, and sometimes as a result of security weaknesses left wide open.
For example, hackers may target user and staff accounts with brute-force attacks to guess passwords, gain access to sensitive information, and even build phishing strategies. This is where attackers pretend to be internal staff and send malicious links to customers, convincing them to share sensitive information.
Insecure protocols and a lack of multi-factor authentication can also leave booking systems wide open to attack, potentially releasing valuable data. This is all the easier to obtain, too, if the data isn’t encrypted – meaning that it’s readable and usable as soon as hackers gain access.
Booking systems, whether based online or via in-store POS, must also be updated regularly with security patches as soon as they are released. Merely missing an update by a few days can still leave companies and customers wide open to attack and fraud.
Payment data and PCI compliance in travel environments
Travel companies that handle and store any kind of cardholder details must adhere to security recommendations laid out by the PCI DSS, or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
If a company fails to meet the standards recommended, they are at greater risk of experiencing a data breach and potentially facing card processor penalties.
PCI DSS is especially important for travel companies because of the often-complex environments in and routes through which cards are stored and processed.
For example, booking systems often have multiple different channels – in person, online, and via contact centres – meaning there are various ways for cardholder data to be captured and processed.
Achieving PCI DSS compliance requires extensive planning and expense; however, it is worth doing so compared to what might happen after a data breach, and the business and reputation an agency might lose.
A good first step for any travel company seeking compliance is to consult the PCI SSC (Security Standards Council)’s online resources and to partner with cybersecurity experts long-term.
Third-party integrations and the risk they carry
Booking platforms frequently partner with third-party processors to store data, handle transactions, and provide app-based services. Therefore, the more third parties a company works with and shares data with, the larger its attack surface is likely to be.
Attackers, therefore, look closely at connections and chains and aim for weak links. A travel firm with robust cybersecurity might do everything correctly and be within PCI DSS compliance in-house, but disaster may strike if just one third-party partner is non-compliant or lax on its own security measures.
Once a hacker accesses a third party’s systems, the data it holds from its partners becomes accessible – and there may also be routes for hackers to travel across the supply chain and wreak further damage.
What’s more, third-party access is a common attack vector. Verizon states that 48% of the data breaches it analyzed in 2025 involved a third party in some form.
Steps travel businesses can take to close the gaps
While a complete cybersecurity audit and an ongoing partnership with cybersecurity experts are highly recommended, there are a few initial, practical steps travel firms can take to tighten up their posture.
- Carefully vet third-party vendors: Always ensure any third-party processors or technology providers are PCI DSS compliant and follow strict cybersecurity standards.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users and staff: Allow no access to private data without multiple access credentials – such as a username, password, and external email verification.
- Keep booking technology up to date: Always apply patches and updates when they become available to ensure protection against the latest threats.
- Use MDR services: Cover all endpoints and environments with off-site expertise, monitoring your operation on your behalf, and taking action when threats emerge.
- Top-up training: Keep personnel up to date on threat trends and basic security training, in particular focusing on social engineering tactics to prevent phishing.
- Apply zero-trust principles: Allow no access to sensitive data or endpoints that hold them without ID-based verification. Restrict access on a need-to-know basis.
- Don’t store card details unless you have to: Reduce risk and compliance steps by only retaining card information unless necessary. Encrypt and mask the data you hold to render it useless if hackers gain access.
Millions of people are travelling every year, meaning there will always be targets for hackers to seek out. However, travel companies can buck worrying trends with these proactive cybersecurity measures as a priority – and work with cybersecurity experts for rolling protection against evolving threats.
(Article provided by Chicago-based cybersecurity and compliance solutions firm VikingCloud)