United Nations World Tourism Organization
| Primary URL | Location | Industry | www[.]unwto[.]org |
Country
Spain
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Hospitality & Leisure
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Profile
The United Nations World Tourism Organization, headquartered in Spain, is a United Nations agency focused on international tourism. It provides a platform for member states and stakeholders to discuss tourism policies and collaborate on sector development. The organization operates an online forum for its members, which includes governments and tourism entities, as indicated by the presence of a member database. This digital infrastructure was targeted in a 2016 cyberattack where attackers stole 1,524 member records containing usernames, emails, and MD5-hashed passwords. The breach occurred via SQL injection and was accompanied by website defacement. While the organization's full scale and reach are not quantified in available sources, its UN membership suggests a global constituency.
Based in Madrid, the organization functions as an intergovernmental body under the UN system. The 2016 incident, claimed by the group TeaMp0isoN, represents a documented cybersecurity challenge in its history. The attackers cited prior compromises of UN systems as motivation, indicating the organization may be targeted due to its UN affiliation. At the time of reporting, the defaced website remained accessible, and the organization's public response was not detailed. This event underscores the vulnerability of international organizations to SQL injection attacks and the risks associated with member data storage. No further breaches are noted in the provided information, leaving the long-term impact of this incident undetermined.
