Hotel Data Breach: Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Others Affected

by Christopher Freeburn | February 3, 2014 9:47 am

MarriottLogo[1]According to an online security researcher, hackers have compromised financial data belonging to guests at a number of prominent hotel chains[2].

Brian Krebs says that the hotel data breach came after hackers penetrated systems owned by White Lodging, a franchisee for several major hotel chains. Krebs said that financial institutions became aware of the potential breach after detecting fraudulent activity on hundreds of credit and debit cards that had recently made payments at Marriott (MAR[3]) hotels, CNN notes.

A Marriott spokesperson noted that the hotel data breach did not involve any computer systems that it directly owns or controls and that it is cooperating with White Lodging to investigate the incident.

Credit and debit cards with fraudulent activity were eventually traced back to locations managed by White Lodging, which also manages hotels for Starwood’s (HOT[4]) Sheraton and Westin chains, as well as some Hilton (HLT[5]) hotels. The Hotel data breach affected Marriott hotels in Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, Denver, Tampa and Louisville.

White Lodging issued a statement about the hotel data breach, saying that an investigation was under way and that it would eventually report any pertinent results.

Last year, Krebs reported that Target (TGT[6]) had been the victim of a massive data breach, compromising millions of debit and credit cards[7].

MAR stock fell modestly in Monday morning trading. HOT stock also sank, while HLT stock slipped slightly.

More Data Breach Headlines:

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/MarriottLogo.jpg
  2. belonging to guests at a number of prominent hotel chains: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/02/business/hotels-credit-card-hacking/
  3. MAR: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MAR
  4. HOT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HOT
  5. HLT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HLT
  6. TGT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=TGT
  7. compromising millions of debit and credit cards: https://investorplace.com/2013/12/identity-theft-alert-40m-target-customers-involved-massive-data-breach/#.Uu-sK3lhOf0
  8. FBI Warns More Retail Data Breach Attacks Are Coming: https://investorplace.com/2014/01/fbi-data-breach/
  9. Neiman Marcus Data Breach: 1.1M Cards Hacked: https://investorplace.com/2014/01/neiman-marcus-data-breach/
  10. TGT Stock – Target Data Breach Much Worse Than Reported: https://investorplace.com/2014/01/tgt-stock-target-data-breach/

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/02/hotel-data-breach-marriott-hilton-sheraton-others-affected/