Today in news you definitely want to hear on a Friday, we have a report disclosing a data breach that can perhaps only be described as massive.
The personal information of as many as 500 million people has been compromised as part of a data breach just disclosed by Marriott International. Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson admitted Friday that the company had fallen short of what guests "deserve" and what the company expects of itself. "We are doing everything we can to support our guests, and using lessons learned to be better moving forward," Sorenson said in a statement to the Associated Press.
Exposed data is said to include mailing addresses, phone numbers, passport numbers, and email addresses for the majority of those affected by the breach. The company confirmed that even credit card numbers could have been stolen. The data breach occurred within Marriott's Starwood network and is alleged to have started as far back as 2014.
While Marriott described the breach as merely a "Starwood guest reservation database security incident," other reports have noted that—should that 500 million guests estimate hold true after potential duplicates are determined—this could very easily go down as one of the biggest data breaches in history.
Marriott purchased Starwood back in 2016 and the company has reportedly experienced multiple glitches while merging computer systems. For any guests wondering if they are among those affected by the Marriott x Starwood breach, you can hit up this website and/or the call center. Marriott is also set to start sending out emails to affected patrons starting Friday.
