Airbnb’s New Security Tools Will Help Prevent Account Takeovers

Operating an Airbnb means that you have to be OK with the idea of strangers living in your home, which also means that there is also a chance that they could leave your home damaged or maybe even steal stuff. We suppose that’s just the risk one has to take, although a recent report from BuzzFeed News revealed that hackers have been using Airbnb to rob homes.

Basically what happens is that hackers will hack accounts of guests who have good ratings and reviews, and then book the homes of their victims and then rob them when they are there. It also works in reverse where hackers can hack host profiles and get guests to send them money without actually confirming the booking, but this is something Airbnb is fighting against with newly introduced security tools.

This comes in the form of multi-factor authentication where Airbnb will prompt users to enter a one-time confirmation code whenever they log into their account from a new device that is unrecognized by the platform. They are also introducing improved account alerts where Airbnb can now notify users via SMS in addition to email, so that users can take action more quickly.

That being said, Airbnb already offers hosts $1 million in insurance policy in the event of such incidents, but monetary loss isn’t so much the issue for some hosts as sometimes certain items can’t be replaced, there is the breach of trust, and the overall hassle, but hopefully these new security tools will help prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: airbnb, Security