Author: Stephen Johnson / Source: Big Think

- The breach dates back to 2014 and potentially affected 500 million customers.
- Millions of guests potentially had credit card information stolen.
- It’s likely the second largest data breach in corporate history.
Have you recently stayed at a Starwood hotel such as a Westin or a St.
Regis? If so, you should probably change your Starwood passwords and check your credit card accounts because Marriott International announced Friday that its Starwood guest reservation system has suffered a data breach that potentially exposed the data of about 500 million guests.It’s likely one of the biggest data breaches in corporate history.
Marriott, which owns Starwood hotels, said it received a security alert in September signaling that a data breach had occurred within its systems in 2014. After conducting an investigation, the company said that an “unauthorized party had copied and encrypted information” from its Starwood database.
For about 327 million guests, the exposed information includes a combination of a name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest account information, birthdate, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date and communication preferences. Millions of other guests potentially had their credit card numbers and expiration dates stolen, though this information would have been encrypted in some form.
“We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we…
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