Kathmandu : A Nepali travel company that has been selling international flight tickets through theGlobal Distribution System (GDS) has been hacked.
A group of foreign hackers hacked the ticket sales system of an international airline company and causeda loss of crores of rupees. The hacker sent an email to a Nepali travel company in the name of a foreign GDS company working in Nepal and caused losses by selling tickets.Deurali Travel, Cosmo Nepal Travel, C Link Travel and others are among the loss-making Nepali travel companies. It seems that foreign hackers have ‘issued’60 to 80 lakh tickets from each company.
Ramesh Thapa, president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Natta), said that foreign hackers have bought tickets from abroad overnight by sending mails to travel companies in Nepal in the name of GDS company. “The hacker was found to have cheated by selling tickets by sending mails with GDS logo, after this incident came out, the Nepali travel company is shocked”, he said.
Chairman Thapa said that it appears that the hacker has issued most of the tickets to Morocco. The victimized travel company has filed a case with the Cyber Bureau. Saver, Amadus, Galileo are providing GDS services to travel companies in Nepal.
Anupa Budhathoki, general manager of Saver Nepal Network, which is providing GDS services to travel companies in Nepal, said that foreign hackers have cheated travel companies by sending fake emails with the logo of GDS companies providing services in Nepal.
He asked the travel company to share the email sent through GDS company only after confirming whether the email came from the official body or not before sharing the passport and username.
General Manager Budhathoki said that after the incident, Saver has strengthened and refined its ‘security feature’ keeping in mind the interests of its service users, travel companies.