Hackers have stolen data of nearly 500 million guests who stayed at Marriott group hotels. This data includes in some cases credit card details, addresses and passport scans that people submitted to Marriott.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The attack had been taking place since 2014 on Marriott's Starwood reservation system and has affected nearly 500 million guests.
- As of now, according to a research by the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, the stolen data from Starwood's servers have not been spotted anywhere on the dark web.
- Guests can head over to a dedicated website that Marriott has set on this matter or call up the group's customer care support.
If you have ever stayed a Marriott hotel or a hotel that the group operates, chances are that some of your data have been stolen by hackers. According to the hotel group, its servers and database were breached, probably multiple times, before September 10 this year. In the breach data of nearly 500 million guests have been stolen, and this data in many cases includes credit card information, passport scans, addresses, phone numbers and email IDs.
On November 30, the Marriott announced that their entire chain of hotels was affected by the massive cybersecurity breach. The attack had been taking place since 2014 on Marriott's Starwood reservation system and has affected nearly 500 million guests. The group was unaware of the ongoing attack for the last four years. It found the data breach only in September this year when one of the security measures in its server alerted IT staff of an unauthorised access to the database. The hotel group has acknowledged the mistakes on its part and is trying multiple ways to ensure the stolen data isn't misused anywhere.
As of now, according to a research by the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, the stolen data from Starwood's servers have not been spotted anywhere on the dark web - a place where hackers and cybercriminals sell data illegally in lieu of monetary benefits. Therefore, this suggests the hackers were not looking to sell the data to anyone.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/features/story/marriott-hotels-hacked-credit-card-details-and-data-of-500-million-guests-stolen-all-you-need-to-know-1400263-2018-12-01
