Police Arrest Royal Air Maroc Hacker

Casablanca’s police department arrested Thursday morning a 36-year-old man accused of “hacking” Royal Air Maroc’s (RAM) customer data processing system and “scamming its clients.”

The man, who works for an unidentified foreign airline, managed to access the RAM customer database, known as the Safar Flyer, and change the data to obtain free airline tickets and resell them at low cost, explain the General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) in a communique.

The case goes back to early October, when more than 50 Moroccan travel agencies were massively hacked. Their Amadeus system, used in the management and issue of airline tickets, was breached.

The agencies had received an email inviting them to update their system of booking and buying airline tickets for their customers. While the email was signed the International Agency of Air Transport (IATA), which the agencies usually deal with, this time, it was a hack.

The suspect then issued a series of tickets from RAM for travelers carrying names from sub-Saharan African countries, going to and from African destinations such as Abidjan and Conakry.