US security experts encourage travelers to only have a digital boarding pass. SAS asks its travelers to be careful, but says they have nothing to fear.
For most people, printing out the boarding card before a flight is a routine.
If we believe more in security experts, one should think carefully before doing so.
Forbes writes that if you are the type who curls the boarding card and puts it in the seat pocket, takes pictures of it and posts it on social media, or just “forgets” to throw it in the garbage, you expose yourself to a security risk.
“If you look at the boarding card with the eyes of a scammer, it’s one of the easiest tricks to take over an account,” Charles Henderson told the site.
Henderson works with network security in the technology giant IBM Security.
– All you need is name, booking number, and membership number. All three things are on your boarding pass, he says.
Ends up on eBay
If someone accesses the account you have on a foreign airline’s website, hackers and scammers can change flight bookings, cancel orders – and buy gift cards on Amazon, which can be resold on eBay.
There is no doubt that bonus points are popular with criminals.
In 2014, many of SAS customers were stolen bonus points after an attack on the airline’s website.
11 years earlier, a hacker stole bonus points that provided free flights worth over $ 2.2 million.
According to security expert Charles Barlow, the travel industry is the second most vulnerable industry when it comes to cybercrime.
“A lot of the reason is because the bad guys understand the value in bonus points,” he says, explaining that scammers consider bonus points as pure currency, he says.
Don’t tell on Facebook
SAS’s Information Manager, Knut Morten Johansen, tells TV 2 that they do not have their EuroBonus information on their boarding passes, but that he encourages all travelers to be aware.
– If you get a hold of your reference number, those you can book and cancel a trip, but not log in anywhere to sell your bonus points, he says.
He believes it is most troublesome for travelers to post their boarding pass online.
– You should be careful about this and not tell the “whole” Facebook that you will leave home. One should hide the QR code on the boarding card as it can be misused, he says.
Sold on dark web
Last year, the tech site Comparitech wrote about how many sell bonus points on the dark web.
On one of these sites, Dream Market, the price of the points was between $ 884 and $ 100,000, ie between about $ 8,000 and $ 900,000.
– It’s easy to get on the members page. You are not keeping up with your bonus points as well as your bank account. Using your points is easy to use in ways that are difficult to track. It’s easy to make points for gift cards or travel, and lots of other things that can be used immediately or sold, he says.
115,000 hits on Instagram
If you search for #boardingpass on Instagram, you get over 115,000 hits.
Several of the pictures show the entire boarding card with both booking number, last name and the membership number they have in foreign airlines.
– If you print a boarding card and someone picks it up, only one person can access the information. But if you post it on social media, we’re talking about thousands of people who now have information about you, says Barlow.
Security expert Henderson says he recommends travelers have the boarding card on the phone instead.
– Boarding cards on paper are a security risk. That’s why we removed credit card numbers from receipts, he says.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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