InterContinental Hotels Group, also known as IHG Hotels & Resorts, has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack that downed its booking systems and mobile apps.
IHG, which has some of the world's largest hotel chains, issued a statement saying it was investigating "unauthorised access" to a number of its technology systems.
Now, IHG confirmed it is assessing the nature, extent and impact of the incident and is implementing its response plans, which reportedly include the appointment of external specialists to investigate the breach.
"We will be supporting hotel owners and operators as part of our response to the ongoing service disruption,"
the company's statement reads.
"IHG's hotels are still able to operate and to take reservations directly."
IHG did not say there had been any loss of customer data. It also did not specifically say it was a ransomware attack, but most of the speculation points in that direction.
Last month, a Holiday Inn in Istanbul was breached by LockBit, which released data stolen from the company. It is not known if there is a connection between the attacks.
This isn’t the first time IHG has been hit by a cyberattack. The hotel giant said in April 2017 that 1,200 of its hotels were compromised by a three-month-long cyberattack in 2016, which saw hackers access credit card data that was subsequently used to make fraudulent payments. IHG agreed to pay more than $1.5 million in a class action settlement in 2020 following the breach.
