Ransomware locked hotel out of its electronic key lock system

A 4-star hotel in the Austrian Alps, the Romantik Seehotel Jaegerwirt, admitted to bowing to extortion after ransomware locked up the computer running the hotel’s electronic key lock system.

This was not the first time that cyber thugs attacked the hotel. During one of the attacks, the hackers reportedly left a backdoor into the system.

The third attack occurred during the opening weekend of the winter season. The computer hit with ransomware controlled the electronic key lock system, the reservation system and the cash desk system.

Guests, who paid about nearly $ 300 a night for a room, could not open their rooms with their existing keycards; new keycards could not be programmed. Arriving guests couldn’t have their reservations confirmed.

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Network World Security