Marriott will pay for passports after data breach

Following a colossal data breach that compromised sensitive personal information, including some passport numbers, of hundreds of millions of guests, Marriott International has agreed to pay for passport replacements if the company finds customers have been victims of fraud.

The breach, which took place over four years and affected 500 million guests, was unique not only for its scope but for the bevy of personal information hackers accessed through the reservation system of Marriott’s subsidiary, Starwood: gender, birth dates, email and mailing addresses and phone numbers. The hackers also accessed passport numbers for a “smaller subset of customers,” Marriott said.

While the State Department has said that its records and systems were not connected to Marriott’s and that a fake passport could not be created with a passport number alone, many experts and government officials have expressed concern that the passport numbers, in concert with the other personal data compromised by the hack, could pose serious risks of identity theft — and be a threat to national security.

On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested that Marriott cover the $110 charge for customers requesting new passports after the breach.

While Marriott believes the chance of hackers using passport numbers “is very low,” spokeswoman Connie Kim said in an email, the hotel giant is willing to foot the bill in cases the company deems necessary.

Marriott has set up a website and call center to answer questions at info.starwood.com, and said it is emailing affected guests on a rolling basis.

The company is based in Bethesda, Md., and has more than 6,700 properties around the world.