Cyber Attack Against Tour Operator Exposes 300,000 Profiles — Reports

The Israeli government has seized the computer servers of a tour operator after hackers obtained the personal information of 300,000 people.

According to local reports, the government’s Privacy Protection Authority division took action against Gol Tours Ltd after a cyber attack more than two weeks ago.

Gol Tours operates 20 travel booking websites, including hotel4u.co.il, booking-hotels.co.il and come2israel.com The leaked information includes telephone numbers, addresses, dates and locations of booked vacations, and medical information, the authority said in a statement according to the Times of Israel.

The authority said it contacted the owner of Gol Tours following the hack to address the security flaws, but it did not cooperate. “The required changes were not made,” the authority reportedly said.

The owners rejected the claims, another news website, Channel 12, reported.

Iranian hacker group Sharp Boys was behind the attack, according to local media.

Travel companies have a long history of being subject to ransomware attacks.

In 2020, corporate travel giant CWT paid $4.5 million in ransom to cyber hackers. Some 30,000 computer systems were infected and locked.

On Monday, Reuters reported that the Shanghai police may have been attacked, resulting in a potential data breach affecting one billion Chinese citizens.