The UK data protection authority will hit Marriott with a £99 million (US$123 million) fine for a breach that exposed the data of up to 383 million guests.
Last year the hotel company revealed that guests’ data was accessed, tied to a breach of the Starwood hotel guest reservation database. Of the 500 million guests impacted, around 327 million had information compromised that ranged from names to passport numbers to email addresses and Starwood account information. The company also stated that credit card data may have been compromised even though it had been encrypted.
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation found that Marriott “failed to undertake sufficient due diligence when it bought Starwood and should also have done more to secure its systems,” according to Business Insider.
Marriott responded that “the company intends to respond and vigorously defend its position,” and that it “has the right to respond before any final determination is made and a fine can be issued by the ICO.”
“We are disappointed with this notice of intent from the ICO, which we will contest,” Marriott International’s president and CEO, Arne Sorenson, said in a statement. “Marriott has been cooperating with the ICO throughout its investigation into the incident, which involved a criminal attack against the Starwood guest reservation database. We deeply regret this incident happened. We take the privacy and security of guest information very seriousl
...THIS ARTICLE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR IP ADDRESS 216.73.216.12
Please verify email or join us
to access premium content!
