Marriott confirms guest data breach

MARRIOTT is the latest in a string of major companies in the travel sector to announce that hackers managed to gain unauthorised access to its databases, with the data of around 500 million of its guests having been exposed.

Investigations into the breach have shown that there has been unauthorised access to the Starwood network since as far back as 2014. Sources told The New York Times that the hack was part of a Chinese intelligence-gathering effort that also hacked health insurers and the security clearance files of millions more Americans.

For most affected guests, data accessed included some combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation dates and communication preferences. Marriott has since launched a call centre and dedicated website (answers.kroll.com), as well as offering free Webwatcher enrollment for affected guests. marriott.com