Last updated - March 2025
Information is at the core of Amadeus business. It determines its success, as the leading provider of IT services to the travel industry, and it serves marketing, sales, distribution and operational needs.
This requires the protection of processes, services (and their underlying assets: applications, platforms, infrastructures, including networks, etc.) and information (e.g., company proprietary data, customer data, data provided by the customer) in the following 3 security dimensions:
Within Amadeus, information security activities follow a risk-based approach, with a focus in priority on critical assets. Adequate protection of critical assets, in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and contractual obligations are essential for Amadeus to maintain the trust & confidence relationship with our customers.
In order to ensure a systematic and coherent approach, Amadeus has established an Information Security Management System (ISMS), that includes a set of Security Policies and Standards (SPS) to comply with.
The Amadeus Security Policies and Standards (SPS) addresses the following areas:
9. Communications security
10. System acquisition, development and maintenance
11. Supplier relationship
12. Information security incident management
13. ICT Business Continuity security
14. Compliance
15. Acceptable Use Policy
The SPS is reviewed on a regular basis and in case of major events.
The Amadeus Security Strategy is built around nine key security objectives:
Risk based approach
Security risks affecting Amadeus owned & managed assets are identified, assessed, evaluated and treated through a consistent methodology, in order to be able to compare them and to achieve a risk level in line with Amadeus risk appetite.
Visibility via monitoring and compliance
Monitoring and periodical audits are performed to ensure applicable security policies, standards, controls and processes are effectively implemented and maintained across Amadeus units and sites. Necessary actions for compliance improvement are defined, approved and implemented.
Security addressed by suppliers
Amadeus owned and managed assets that are administrated and/or accessed by third party suppliers are properly protected according to security requirements in contract and regular monitoring.
Security by design
Security is embedded from the start in a systematic manner. It applies to all layers (physical, infrastructure, platform, application) for all Amadeus assets. Amadeus Products follow the Staged Gates and Secure Development Lifecycle methodologies
Security resilience and incident response
Effective response to zero-day vulnerabilities, security alerts and incidents with adequate recovery capabilities.
People centric security
Amadeus employees and contractors are aware and accountable of their security roles and responsibilities (which might include delegation of authority) and have the necessary security competences for their job function (e.g., awareness & training on applicable security policies and standards).
Secure cloud solutions
Cloud-hosted assets owned or managed by Amadeus are protected in line with Amadeus' risk appetite while maintaining compliance with applicable legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements.
Data security governance
Security processes, access and protection mechanisms to confidential data are developed and implemented according to applicable legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements.
Security services for customers
Raise the security of the industry ecosystem by offering and delivering our security expertise (platform & consultancy based) to our customers.
Amadeus Corporate Information Security Charter, signed by the company’s CEO, General Counsel, CTO, and Group CISO, defines the philosophy of information security within Amadeus.
It represents the endorsement of Amadeus' executive management team, and identifies the motivation for information security, describes information security principles and terms. It more specifically supports “security policy governance” and provides the empowerment related to definition and maintenance of Amadeus security policies and standards.
The charter gives authority to the Group CISO to ensure that appropriate security controls are in place and enforced throughout the enterprise, and to request the appointment of security representatives in Regions, Business Units and Domains.
Objective — Amadeus recognizes that information and IT assets are critical business assets. It is the responsibility of all users to ensure the safeguarding of business assets. Amadeus implements, maintains and monitors a comprehensive corporate information security policy and compliance program appropriate to:
Motivation — Amadeus values the ability to openly communicate and share information. Amadeus information (whether belonging to Amadeus or held in trust on behalf of its customers and business partners) is an important asset that shall be protected according to its value and the degree of damage that could result from its misuse, unavailability, destruction, unauthorized disclosure or modification. Improper disclosure or destruction of these assets may result in harm to the business. Information assets are identified, valued, assessed for risk and protected as appropriate to the needs and risks of the business. Users are required to abide by this Corporate Information Security Charter and subsequent policies and procedures.
Principle Goals — Information security is a risk management discipline addressing the preservation of information confidentiality, integrity and availability. The information security effort is established via a hierarchical set of policies, standards, and procedures that help users and administrators to define and mitigate risks, maintaining a trade-off between information value and cost of risk mitigation. Policies are high-level requirements documents used to put information security principles into practice. Standards define the actual controls (specific behavior and actions) to be followed and enforced to satisfy the policies. Procedures are specific and prescriptive documents containing a series of related activities aimed at achieving a set of objectives in a measurable and repeatable manner.
Scope — It is intended that information is protected in whatever form, including, but not limited to, paper documents, electronic data and the spoken word. Information should be protected while at rest and when it is handled, transmitted or conveyed. IT assets include all devices and hardware/software components of the IT infrastructure, applications and data stores, encompassing on-premises, virtual, and cloud IT environments.
Action — All employees and contractors have a responsibility to report suspected security failures or policy violations.
Please refer to ourUnited States Supplemental Privacy Noticefor additional information applicable to individuals residing in the United States.