Cyberattack hits Meliá, one of the largest hotel chains in the world

A cybersecurity incident has crippled activities at Meliá Hotels International, one of the largest hotel chains in the world.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday, October 4, and affected Meliá's Spain-based operations primarily, where attackers took down parts of the internal network and some web-based servers, including its reservation system and public websites.

Several Spanish news outlets reported the incident as a ransomware attack [1, 2, 3, 4].

No ransomware gang has publicly taken credit for an intrusion at the hotel chain, nor has the hotel's name been listed on any ransomware "leak sites" as a potential victim, although this is no indication of a ransomware attack, as some ransomware gangs don't run such sites.

Meliá, which is the 17th largest hotel chain in the world by the number of rooms, and the 25th largest based on the number of properties, has disclosed the incident to Spanish financial agencies and law enforcement.

The hotel chain has also been working with Telefonica's cybersecurity division to deal with the attack's aftermath.

A source familiar with the incident told The Record that the company has restored systems from backup and that systems returned to operation within days, with the hotel continuing to cater to guests as normal.

A Meliá spokesperson declined to comment further. Spanish law enforcement said they would not comment on ongoing investigations.

Meliá operates more than 370 hotels in more than 40 countries.