What You Need to Know About the Recent Marriott Data Breach
On Tuesday, March 31st, Marriott International announced that there may have been a data breach that compromised the information of over 5.2 million guests. This is the second time in the past two years that a hotel group has experienced such a serious disruption.
In this violation, the company believes that passport details, driver’s license numbers, and credit card details were not part of what was stolen. According to their official website, potentially compromised information includes:
- contact details (such as name, postal address, email address and telephone number)
- loyalty account information (for example, account number and points balance, but not passwords)
- additional personal data (for example, company, gender, date and month of birth)
- partnerships and connections (for example, associated airline loyalty programs and numbers)
- preferences (e.g. accommodation / room preferences and language preferences)
This is not the first time Marriott has faced a major data breach, as we reported two years ago.
Here’s what to do if you’ve been hit by the latest hack:
1. Change your password immediately.
2. Register with WebWatcher – a site that tracks your personal information and notifies you if it appears where it was not authorized by you.
3. Set up a credit alert to track any changes in your rating or new accounts / loans not authorized or requested by you.
Looking for a more detailed guide on what to do in the event of a data breach? We got you.