Security breach exposes data of 106 million tourists who traveled to Thailand

Estimated read time 2 min read

The personal data of more than 106 million international travelers to Thailand dating back ten years was exposed on the open web and indexed by a search engine, according to researchers at Comparitech. The database included full names, passport numbers, arrival dates, etc.

UK-based online research firm Comparitech, discovered the database on August 22, 2021, and immediately alerted Thai authorities, who acknowledged the incident and secured the data the following day.

The database contains several assets, including a collection of more than 106 million records, each of which includes some or all of the following information: full names, sex, passport numbers, arrival dates, visa types and residency status.

Bob Diachenko, who leads Comparitech’s cybersecurity research said that any foreigner who traveled to Thailand in the last decade might have had their information exposed in the incident. He also confirmed the database contained his own name and entries to Thailand.

However, none of the information provided poses a direct economic threat to most of the individuals concerned. No financial or contact information was included.

Today, many large companies in the tourism sector are becoming aware of the need to protect their customers’ data. This sector has become one of the favorite targets of organized cybercrime mafias due to the large volume of data they handle and, in general, the low security measures they have in place to protect this valuable personal and banking information of millions of customers. Awareness plays a key role. Investing in cybersecurity is no longer an option, it is an obligation to avoid events such as this, since, unfortunately, there is no such thing as zero risk.

-Thailand News (TN)

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