The Cybersecurity Applied by Online Travel Agencies and Hotels to Protect Users’ Private Data in Smart Cities

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the cybersecurity in online travel agencies (OTAs) and hotel sectors to protect users’ private data in smart cities. Methodologically, this research uses a sample of information about cyberattacks that occurred during the period of 2000–2023 in companies operating as OTAs and in the travel, tourism, and food sectors, which was obtained from research articles. Then, we had to expand the research to include updated information about cyberattacks from digital newspapers, regulatory sources, and state data breach notification sites like CSIS, KonBriefing, EUROCONTROL, and GlobalData. The findings of the current research prove that hotels and OTAs were constantly exposed to cyberattacks in the period analysed, especially by data breaches and malware attacks; in fact, this is the main novelty of this research. In addition, these incidents were severe for both guests and tourism companies because their vulnerabilities and consequences affect the reputation of companies and smart cities where these firms operate, as well as consumer confidence. The results also showed that most of the cyberattacks examined in this manuscript were aimed at stealing information about the companies’ and users’ private data such as email addresses; credit card numbers, security codes, and expiration dates; and encoded magstripe data; among many other types of data. Cyberattacks and cyberthreats never disappear completely in the travel and tourism sectors because these illegal activities are closely related to the hacker’s thirst for power, fame, and wealth.