A few weeks ago, various Hotels and Casinos in Las Vegas reported being victims of a cyber attack that left serious damage to their operations and large losses. Las Vegas is undoubtedly one of the cities with the highest tourist traffic, with an impressive offer of shows and activities that have caused not only the Casinos, but also its hotels to become world references.

The level of engineering and sophistication with which their companies are developed, anyone would imagine, is one of the highest and that is precisely why the cyber attack suffered generated not only surprise but also concern worldwide. According to what was narrated, reservation data was lost, phantom charges were made to guests, rooms that depended on the system were unusable, communications were lost, among other consequences.

This leads us to ask ourselves: Is the tourism sector prepared to face a cyber attack? How protected are our systems? Are we able to detect these attacks in a reasonable time? What do we do once an attack occurs? Who do we turn to? What can we do to protect ourselves?

The Peruvian scenario has not been free of these questions; our legislation has for some time established criminal sanctions to confront computer crimes. For example, anyone who deliberately and illegitimately damages, introduces, deletes, deteriorates, alters, deletes or makes computer data inaccessible is punished with a prison sentence of up to 6 years. However, the success of a criminal investigation will depend largely on the possibility of identifying these hackers, who are experts in hiding the origin of their connections and any other data that may identify them.

What is the answer then? Well, in the face of this growing threat, what we can do is prepare, strengthen our systems, create new policies, train personnel, have accurate diagnoses and seek to be updated.

Only preparation for what could present itself as a crisis is what will allow us to keep safe the data that we protect, that of the company, that of our workers and clients, and provide tourists with what they expect so much, a pleasant experience. no negative surprises.

For more information contact:

Mario Pinatte  | CPB Partner | mpinatte@cpb-abogados.com.pe