A pair of hackers caused widespread disruption to the parent company of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Hotels Group, after alleging gaining access to a digital vault protected with the abysmal password “Qwerty1234.” The hackers then contacted the BBC to brag about their efforts, declaring that they had tried and failed to execute a ransomware attack before instead deleting company data. The pair claimed they are based in Vietnam and told the BBC, “We don't feel guilty, really.” A spokesperson for IHG pushed back at the hackers' claims about its weak digital security, saying that the firm “employs a defence-in-depth strategy to information security that leverages many modern security solutions.”
