Marriott Data Breach To Cost 5.2 Million Guests

The recent news outbreak on the Marriott International reported with an estimated 5.2 million of their guests may have been exposed to a data breach, including names, mailing addresses, loyalty account numbers, and other personal information to an unrelated third party.

The Marriott breach for companies to realize that they do not have the proper experience, training or preparation to prevent or minimize damage. Every minute matters and speed is the difference between a minimal breach or one that will devastate a company forever.

Marriott International announced that it is notifying some of its guests today of an incident involving a property system. The notice explains what occurred, the information involved, the measures taken by Marriott to investigate and address the issue, how Marriott is assisting guests, and steps guests can consider taking.

Hotels operated and franchised under Marriott’s brands use an application to help provide services to guests at hotels. At the end of February 2020, the company identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property. The company believes that this activity started in mid-January 2020. Upon discovery, the company confirmed that the login credentials were disabled, immediately began an investigation, implemented heightened monitoring, and arranged resources to inform and assist guests. Marriott also notified relevant authorities and is supporting their investigations.

Today, Marriott is sending emails to guests involved. Marriott has also set up a dedicated website (www.mysupport.marriott.com) and call center resources with additional information for guests. The call center resources can be reached by calling the numbers listed on the dedicated website. The email sent to guests and the website also contain a list of steps guests involved can consider taking and information about enrolling in a personal information monitoring service that Marriott is providing.

Marriott carries insurance, including cyber insurance, commensurate with its size and the nature of its operations, and the company is working with its insurers to assess coverage. The company does not currently believe that its total costs related to this incident will be significant.

Lessons to learn from the Marriott episode are, companies need to practice using both technical and communication simulations along with security operations, incident response, and executive stakeholders to ensure their team’s preparedness. Ultimately, the only way to prepare for an event – the only protective measure that stands between a threat and an actual breach – is to supply cybersecurity teams simulation exercises designed to help them think critically in order to detect, respond to, and remediate cyber-attacks.

These exercises measure their detection and response time preparedness which will reduce dwell time and minimizes risk to any organization. Hackers skills are constantly evolving; but companies can overcome the cyber skills gap by implementing advanced simulation training before threats fully develop and breaches occur.”