So did you stay at a Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton, or W hotel recently? When I recently, I mean the last several years. Then you better be on guard. Because someone breached Starwood hotels (this includes Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton, W, LeMeridian, etc…).
Back on November 19, Starwood Hotel leaders say an ‘unauthorized party’ got, then compromised data. But wait…there’s more. Because some of this data goes back to 2014. There are over 320 million pieces of info on the line. This includes names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, and passport numbers. This also includes your travel information, like when you stayed and where you stayed and how long you stayed.
Am I scaring you yet? Just keep reading. Because they also say can’t rule out credit card data. What are they doing about it? Well, they issued a statement. They said they’re answering every question through their call center and website. They’re also working with police and other local law officials to track down the offenders. But I don’t know if this point is the scariest and most promising. They say they are ‘phasing out’ the old IT support and reservation system with a new one. I hope this new one is a better system. Because what’s there to say the new one is going to be worse than the old one?
Forgive my cynicism. However, this isn’t the first time someone breached Starwood Hotels. In fact, somebody did this three time in three years. Back in 2016, Starwood and Marriott merged. Together, they have well over 6,000 hotel buildings in over 110 countries. We don’t know which countries got hit, but I’m guessing the USA is one of them. We know, little, or anything about the hackers, or hacking group. Could it be an inside job? Could it be a foreign enemy? Or maybe could it be a theft? Or maybe, just maybe, could this be a practice run for something far more sinister in the future?