Flight booking systems lack basic privacy safeguards, say researchers

Hamburg

MAJOR travel booking systems lack a proper way to authenticate air travellers, making it easy to hack the short code used on many boarding passes to alter flight details or steal sensitive personal data, security researchers warned on Tuesday.

Passenger Name Records (PNR) are used to store reservations with links to a traveller's name, travel dates, itinerary, ticket details, phone and email contacts, travel agent, credit card numbers, seat number and baggage information.

The six-digit codes act as pinc…