Up to 500 million Starwood customers hit by data breach
Marriott International has said 500 million customers of its Starwood division have been targeted in a data breach.
The hotel company said the guest reservation database of its Starwood network, including those who have booked W Hotels, Sheraton, Le Méridien and Four Points by Sheraton, had been compromised by an ‘unauthorised party’.
The unauthorised access dates back to 2014.
Marriott-branded hotels are not affected as they use a separate reservation system on a different network.
Marriott said it was alerted by an internal security tool that somebody was attempting to access the database.
After investigating, it was discovered an ‘unauthorised party had copied and encrypted information’.
The database contains records of up to 500 million customers. Of those, the information on 327 million guests included ‘some combination’ of information, such as name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, account information, date of birth, gender, and arrival and departure information.
Marriott said some records also included encrypted payment card information, but it could not rule out the possibility that the encryption keys had also been stolen.
The hotel group said it realised on November 19 that there had been unauthorised access to the database, which contained guest information relating to reservations at Starwood properties on or before September 10 this year.
The statement added: "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.
"Marriott quickly engaged leading security experts to help determine what occurred.
"Marriott learned during the investigation that there had been unauthorised access to the Starwood network since 2014.
"The company recently discovered that an unauthorised party had copied and encrypted information, and took steps towards removing it.
"On November 19, 2018, Marriott was able to decrypt the information and determined that the contents were from the Starwood guest reservation database."
The statement added: "The company has not finished identifying duplicate information in the database.
"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. For the remaining guests, the information was limited to name and sometimes other data such as mailing address, email address, or other information."
Marriott president and CEO Arne Sorenson said: "We deeply regret this incident happened.
"We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves. We are doing everything we can to support our guests, and using lessons learned to be better moving forward."
The hotel group has set up a dedicated website and call centre, has started emailing guests who have been affected and is offering to pay for them to have access to an online monitoring service.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports