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The breach exposed sensitive information on up to 500 Million guests.

It is incredibly difficult to defend your system against employees clicking on phishing links that they shouldn’t be clicking on. Contact us today to get a quality cyber policy for your clients.

How Did A Hotel Chain As Big As Marriott Get hHacked?

According to the hotel chain, up to 500 million people were exposed by a data breach that occurred within the Starwood Guest Reservation database (which Marriott International recently acquired). Marriott confirmed that an “unauthorized party” accessed the database in 2014 in order to copy and encrypt the information for their benefit. This means that anyone who made a reservation between 2014 and September 10, 2018 (the day Marriott discovered the exposure) was exposed to the hacker group. 
 
What To Do If You Were Affected?
According to Marriott, the stolen hotel database contains sensitive personal information of nearly 500 million guests, including their names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, dates of birth, genders, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences.As mentioned, if you stayed at a Starwood Hotel since 2014, there’s a good chance you were affected by this data breach. For those who were affected, please see below for ways to keep yourself protected from additional threats.

  • Change your passwords
  • Monitor your bank accounts for suspicious activity
  • Open a separate credit card for online purchases
  • Limit the amount of information that you share
  • Avoid saving credit card information on websites
  • Be vigilant

How Can I Make Sure My Client is Covered?
Hotels are huge targets for cyber-attacks. They hold tons of sensitive information, they often acquire other hotel chains and their databases, and they offer deals with third party vendors or preferred programs. Many times they are viewed as “low hanging fruit” because their systems, cyber security tools and tech processes are outdated or being accessed by hundreds of employees or contractors. It is imperative that hotels have quality cyber policies in place. This means cyber policies that include coverage for system damage, business interruption, and cyber-crime.