{"id":70925,"date":"2018-11-30T09:08:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T17:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=70925"},"modified":"2018-11-30T09:08:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T17:08:57","slug":"marriott-announces-potentially-500-million-customer-records-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=70925","title":{"rendered":"Marriott Announces Potentially 500 Million Customer Records Exposed…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bethesda, MD…Marriott\u00a0has taken measures to investigate and address a data security incident involving the Starwood guest reservation database.\u00a0 On November 19, 2018, the investigation determined that there was unauthorized access to the database, which contained guest information relating to reservations at Starwood properties* on or before September 10, 2018.<\/p>\n

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On September 8, 2018, Marriott received an alert from an internal security tool regarding an attempt to access the Starwood guest reservation database in the United States.\u00a0 Marriott quickly engaged leading security experts to help determine what occurred.\u00a0 Marriott learned during the investigation that there had been unauthorized access to the Starwood network since 2014.\u00a0 The company recently discovered that an unauthorized party had copied and encrypted information, and took steps towards removing it.\u00a0 On November 19, 2018, Marriott was able to decrypt the information and determined that the contents were from the Starwood guest reservation database.<\/p>\n

The company has not finished identifying duplicate information in the database, but believes it contains information on up to approximately 500 million guests who made a reservation at a Starwood property.\u00a0 For\u00a0approximately 327 million of these guests, the information includes some combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest (\u201cSPG\u201d) account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences.\u00a0 For some, the information also includes payment card numbers and payment card expiration dates, but the payment card numbers were encrypted using Advanced Encryption Standard encryption (AES-128).\u00a0 There are two components needed to decrypt the payment card numbers, and at this point, Marriott has not been able to rule out the possibility that both were taken. \u00a0For the remaining guests, the information was limited to name and sometimes other\u00a0data\u00a0such as mailing address, email address,\u00a0or\u00a0other information.<\/p>\n

Marriott reported this incident to law enforcement and continues to support their investigation.\u00a0 The company has already begun notifying regulatory authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deeply regret this incident happened,\u201d said Arne Sorenson, Marriott\u2019s President and Chief Executive Officer.\u00a0 \u201cWe fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves.\u00a0 We are doing everything we can to support our guests, and using lessons learned to be better moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, Marriott is reaffirming our commitment to our guests around the world.\u00a0 We are working hard to ensure our guests have answers to questions about their personal information, with a dedicated website and call center.\u00a0 We will also continue to support the efforts of law enforcement and to work with leading security experts to improve.\u00a0 Finally, we are devoting the resources necessary to phase out Starwood systems and accelerate the ongoing security enhancements to our network,\u201d Mr. Sorenson continued.<\/p>\n

Guest Support<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marriott has taken the following steps to help guests monitor and protect their information:<\/p>\n

Dedicated Website and Call Center<\/strong><\/p>\n