Protect Yourself From the Airbnb Data Breach…

As reported on ComputerWeekly.com and elsewhere, the popular home-rental site experienced a data breach on September 24.  The breach allowed many hosts to see the data of other Airbnb hosts including their inbox messages, property details, lock-box codes, banking information and other personally identifiable information.

Some of the experiences were rather unflatteringly detailed on reddit.  Fortunately, this appears to be a short-term internal tech issue and not a hacking of Airbnb.

According to an Airbnb spokesperson, “On Thursday, a technical issue resulted in a small subset of users inadvertently viewing limited amounts of information from other users’ accounts.  We fixed the issue quickly and are implementing additional controls to ensure it does not happen again.  We don’t believe any personal information was misused and at no point was payment information accessible.”

Despite these assurances, some hosts claimed they could see the payment information of other hosts.  To be fair to Airbnb, the issue was remedied within three hours.

I love Airbnb.  I’ve been a host for three years and have met dozens and dozens of wonderful people; many of them repeat customers.  Airbnb hosts are in over 190 countries and they have come a long way since the early days of the service.  That said, sometimes they have a fairly lackadaisical attitude about some things that drives me nuts.

What action do I need to take?

Again, thus far this has been a host issue but breaches have taken place in the past as well.  I am both a host and a frequent guest, so here is what I have done to protect myself:

1. I changed my Airbnb password (this applies to both guest and host accounts).
2. I reviewed all existing reservations to make sure no changes were made.  Thank God I’m really anal and keep a spreadsheet in addition to tracking my bookings on the Airbnb website.
3. If you have an upcoming guest stay, make sure that you still have a reservation.  It would really suck if you showed up and the owner said he had no record of your stay.
4. If you’re a host, alert your bank so that if your account is used for illicit transactions, you can more easily file a fraud claim.
5. If you have a guest account, delete your credit card information for the time being. Once this issue has passed, you can add it back in or just wait until the next time you book an Airbnb rental.  Note:  The system won’t let you delete credit card information related to upcoming rentals, so be sure to monitor your credit card account.
6. I don’t use a lock-box; every guest is met personally to give them the keys.  However, if you’re a host that does use a lock-box or a digital lock, you should consider changing the codes.

According to Airbnb, hosts with unintentional access did not have the ability to change data on other accounts.  But then again, when initially contacted about the issue, Airbnb customer service told hosts to just clear their cookies.  Mr. Anal here – I’ll take the extra steps to protect myself!

Reggie

I’m a dedicated bachelor, freelance researcher/editor/writer and, most of all, frequent traveler.  Traveling solo or with friends, it seems like I’m perpetually planning my next adventure.