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ONLINE SECURITY AWARENESS: PHISHING AND EMAIL SPOOFING

Updated 4 months ago | 8 min read time
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As a partner on our platform, you’re likely to have access to a large amount of
guest data, including their names, addresses, credit card details and phone
numbers.

This means that your extranet account can be a tempting target for
cybercriminals and fraudsters, who use a variety of techniques to try to gain
access to this valuable data. Phishing is one such technique, which is explained
in this article. Two other common techniques are malware and social engineering.

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What’s in this article:

 1. Understanding phishing
 2. Understanding email spoofing
 3. Identifying phishing attempts
 4. What to do if you suspect a phishing attempt
 5. How to download suspicious emails in order to report them
 6. Protecting your organisation from phishing attempts

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UNDERSTANDING PHISHING

Phishing is a type of cyberattack carried out by someone pretending to be
someone else in order to steal or earn money or data. Phishing is the most
common method by which organisational breaches occur.

Phishing attempts are usually aimed at stealing:

 * Guest reservation data.
 * Personal information of employees and guests.
 * Credit card information.
 * Money, by tricking staff or compromising systems.

Phishing attacks most commonly target individuals or organisations with valuable
data. Accommodation partners like you can become targets because of the type of
sensitive and valuable data held in the extranet. Fraudsters may attempt to
mimic our emails in order to phish your username and password for the purpose of
taking over your account. These phishing emails can lead to a webpage that looks
very similar to the extranet login page, but if you look at the URL address bar
you will notice differences. The key to protecting your business is to report
these emails to us as soon as you spot them.

If we detect suspicious activity in your extranet account, we’ll immediately
disable the link feature in any messages you send to your guests via our
platform. This is to prevent cyber criminals from impersonating you and
exploiting this messaging channel to send fraudulent payment links to guests,
particularly in the event of a phishing attack on your property.

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UNDERSTANDING EMAIL SPOOFING

Email spoofing is a technique that cybercriminals use to trick you into
believing an email came from a trusted sender, by falsifying the sender’s email
address. Spoofed emails can be used for several malicious purposes including
phishing attacks, spreading malware, conducting scams or launching targeted
cyberattacks. 

We use Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) to
protect our platform and partners like you from email spoofing. DMARC is an
email authentication standard that allows email receivers to verify the
authenticity of a message. We have a strict policy, which means your email
system should reject messages that don’t pass the authenticity checks. 

While this standard reduces the risk of receiving spoofed emails, there are some
scenarios where spoof emails are still delivered. This depends on the
configuration of your systems. For example, if you experience network issues
that delay the authentication, some systems are configured to deliver the
unauthenticated message instead of deferring it.

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IDENTIFYING PHISHING ATTEMPTS

You probably receive suspicious emails every day. Depending on your email
client, these suspicious messages may be flagged or automatically moved to the
spam folder, but some may get through. You can spot these by keeping an eye out
for:

 * Urgent language
   Phishing emails tend to create a false sense of urgency, for example with
   threats of your extranet account being suspended or an urgent email regarding
   your financial situation. Fraudsters will always adapt their techniques to
   make their phishing emails look as legitimate as possible. 
 * Errors and mistakes
   Keep an eye out for spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. If you spot
   numerous mistakes or a mix of different languages in the same email, it’s
   likely a phishing email. A phishing email will also be typically written in a
   mix of different languages. You can always check who the real sender is in
   the ‘From:’ field of your email client, or by checking the sender located
   inside the arrowheads (<,>). Emails from Booking.com should always come from
   an address ending in ‘booking.com’, regardless of the subdomain (as in
   example@sg.booking.com). An email address like ‘support@booking-103266.com’
   is not from Booking.com and is most certainly malicious. Do not interact with
   such emails, and instead report them as spam.
 * Urgent requests without previous communication shared
   Booking.com will never ask you for any urgent requests without sending prior
   communication. If you receive a suspicious email requesting urgent action,
   please refrain from taking any steps until you have contacted your Account
   Manager or Customer Service. This will allow us to review whether any
   internal updates have been made and to report the email to the Security team
   if necessary.
 * Incorrect sender email addresses
   Don’t automatically trust the email display name. Check the email address in
   the ‘From’ header. If it looks suspicious, don’t open the email. Here are a
   few examples of trusted Booking.com email addresses:
   * no-reply@partners.booking.com 
   * email.campaign@sg.booking.com 
   * noreply-payments@booking.com 
   * customer.service@booking.com 
   * customer.care@booking.com 
   * invalid-cc@booking.com 
   * noreply@booking.com 
   * noshow@booking.com
   * example@property.booking.com 
   * example@mailer.booking.com 
   * example@guest.booking.com 
 * Foreign links
   Scanning the links you receive can help you prevent cyberattacks and improve
   your awareness of potential cybersecurity risks. There are a few methods for
   checking links:
   * Check the real destination of a link by hovering your mouse over the link
     or by tapping and holding the link if you’re on a mobile device to check
     the destination of the link. If the link doesn’t take you to an address
     ending in ‘.booking.com’, don’t click on it. 
   * There are also online tools and services designed to analyse and scan URLs
     for potential threats and malicious content. 

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU SUSPECT A PHISHING ATTEMPT

If you suspect your computer or laptop has been infected with malware, try
performing one or more of the following steps:

 * Reset your email account password first, then reset your Booking.com account
   password. To do this, go to http://admin.booking.com, type in your username,
   then click on ‘Having trouble signing in?’
 * Scan your device with an updated malware scanner. Not all phishing attacks
   steal passwords – some can have malicious software embedded in a ‘file’ which
   may be malware, spyware, ransomware or a virus. It’s very important to scan
   your device if you think you’ve clicked on a malicious link or downloaded
   unrecognised files.
 * Report security issues within 24 hours of a suspected or actual phishing
   attack. This allows us to start securing your account to protect your
   business and your guests as quickly as possible. Don’t forget to include all
   relevant details, such as a copy of the suspicious email you received, or any
   unrecognised activity in your account. Read these instructions on how to
   safely forward a suspicious email as an attachment.

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HOW TO DOWNLOAD SUSPICIOUS EMAILS IN ORDER TO REPORT THEM

To report a suspicious email, you’ll need to download the email in .eml/.msg
format. There are different ways to do this, depending on your email provider
and client.

Gmail:

 1. Open the email you want to download
 2. Click the three dots in the upper-right corner of the email
 3. Select ‘Download message’ to download in .eml format

Outlook (web):

 1. Open the email.
 2. Click on the three dots in the toolbar above the email.
 3. Choose ‘View message source’ to view the email in .eml format.
 4. To download as .msg, you may need to open the email in the desktop version
    of Outlook and use the ‘Save As’ option.

Yahoo Mail:

 1. Open the email
 2. Click on ‘More’ (three dots)
 3. Choose ‘Download message’ to download in .eml format

Microsoft Outlook (desktop):

 1. Open the email
 2. Click on ‘File’ in the menu
 3. Click on ‘Save As’ and select the .msg format

Apple Mail:

 1. Open the email
 2. Right-click on the email
 3. Choose ‘Save As’ and select the .eml format

Thunderbird:

 1. Open the email in Thunderbird
 2. Right-click on the email
 3. Choose ‘Save As’ and select the .eml format

Please note that these instructions may change with updates to the email
platforms and clients. Always check the specific options available in your email
client for the most accurate guidance.

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PROTECTING YOUR ORGANISATION FROM PHISHING ATTEMPTS

To prevent security breaches, we recommend taking the following proactive steps
to protect yourself from fraudsters impersonating Booking.com:

 * Bookmark the correct extranet link
   Manually type https://admin.booking.com/ into your browser. You’ll see the
   secure lock icon next to the address. Bookmark this page and use this link to
   manage your property. Learn more about preventing unauthorised use of your
   account in this article.
 * Report suspicious emails
   Always report suspicious emails to the Booking.com Security team, then move
   the email to the trash. 
 * Limit the use of tools that grant online anonymity 
   To keep you safe, we advise you not to use tools that grant anonymity (for
   example, Incognito mode) online while navigating your extranet.
 * Review your email service provider solutions
   Popular email providers have put in place smart solutions to tackle phishing
   scams head-on. For example, Gmail offers a range of tools and settings
   outlined in their support documentation to help users stay safe. Make sure
   you check what protections they have in place and how you can make the most
   of them.

You can now access all your legal messages and updates anytime, in one place.

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