Rabat – Casablanca’s police department arrested Thursday morning a 36-year-old man accused of “hacking” Royal Air Maroc’s (RAM) customer data processing system and “scamming its clients.”
The man, who works for an unidentified foreign airline, managed to access the RAM customer database, known as the Safar Flyer, and change the data to obtain free airline tickets and resell them at low cost, explain the General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) in a communique.
The case goes back to October 6, 2017, when more than 50 Moroccan travel agencies were massively hacked.
“They reported to their local Amadeus office which gave them all the recommendations to face the situation as effectively as possible,” Amadeus told Morocco World News.
The agencies Amadeus system, used in the management and issue of airline tickets, was breached.
However, Amadeus said they had no breached on their system. “Amadeus’ investigation has concluded and has found that the root cause of the incident was user authentication theft. We have no evidence of any security breach on the Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, which is the reservation system used by travel agencies.”
“Travel agencies have been informed several times, and as soon as the issue was discovered, not to open any file or click on any link in these malicious e-mails, as well as to report any issue to receive recommendations on the clean-up of the workstations,” the company added.
“Amadeus’ investigation has concluded and has found that the root cause of the incident was user authentication theft. We have no evidence of any security breach on the Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, which is the reservation system used by travel agencies.”
The agencies had received an email inviting them to update their system of booking and buying airline tickets for their customers.
The suspect then issued a series of tickets from RAM for travelers carrying names from sub-Saharan African countries, going to and from African destinations such as Abidjan and Conakry.
