Anyone who has booked their next holiday with Center Parcs by phone should be particularly vigilant at the moment: The company has been the target of a hacker attack. The attackers managed to access sensitive customer data - at least temporarily.
According to an email currently being sent to affected customers, the attack took place at the beginning of June. Cyber criminals were able to access information such as names, email addresses, travel dates and booking numbers via an interface that is used specifically for telephone bookings. According to Center Parcs, financial data, passwords or addresses were not affected - and there is no evidence of data manipulation to date.
As soon as the incident was recognised, the company said it reacted by stopping system access and tightening security measures. The incident has now also been reported to the relevant authorities and external IT security professionals are helping to secure the systems.
Although the attack was quickly contained, Center Parcs advises caution: phishing attempts by email, text message or phone call could follow. Particularly dangerous: fraudulent payment requests that claim to be related to existing bookings. Centre Parcs expressly emphasises that payment information is only communicated via the official website or the MyCP app.
Such incidents once again illustrate how quickly personal information can fall into the wrong hands - even at established companies. Anyone who now receives sceptical messages should look twice and, if in doubt, ask directly via the official channels.