Horne & Benik Networks Blog

Horne & Benik Networks has been serving the Marlborough area since 1991, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

The Marriott Hack Exposes 500 Million People

The Marriott Hack Exposes 500 Million People

It’s nice to get away every now and then, but if you have stayed at any property under the Marriott umbrella, including St. Regis, Westin, Sheraton, or W hotel since 2014, there is a good chance that your personal information has been leaked, a spokesperson from parent company Marriott has said. They said the multinational hotel corporation will begin emailing users impacted by the leak in the coming days.

Late in November, Marriott hotels admitted that they had their Starwood reservation database hacked into. The hotel chain said that an entity had unauthorized access for the better part of the past four years. The leak was found to expose names, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, dates of birth, and arrival and departure information for nearly 327 million people. In some cases, credit card numbers and expiration dates were compromised. It is now the second-largest data breach in world history. The only breach that was larger, was Yahoo, which exposed the personal information of about three billion users.

What can you do?
If you are sure that your name is among this massive list of people, you should take the following steps immediately:

  • Change Your Password - All Marriott guests should change their passwords immediately and pick usernames and passwords that aren’t easily guessed. Instead of an easy-to-guess passphrase, use four unrelated words with numbers, characters, and a mix of upper and lowercase letters. Also, don’t use the same password for multiple services.
  • Monitor Your Accounts - If you think you’ve been exposed in this attack, you should keep an eye on your Starwood Preferred Guest account as well as your credit report. You can sign up for credit monitoring services, but if you are diligently checking your credit regularly, paying someone else to check it is pointless.
  • Open an Account Just for Online Purchases - It may seem to be a pain to juggle accounts but keeping a credit card specifically for online shopping and reservations is a good way to mitigate your exposure to major hacks like this one.
  • Limit Access to Information - Only share what you have to share in order to get the products and services that you are purchasing. Any additional information is just a bonus for hackers and scammers if they are able to get their grubby little hands on it.

If you would like more information about these data breaches, how to secure yourself, and what to do when your information gets compromised, return to our blog regularly for more useful information.

Have you been hacked or had your identity stolen? Leave your experience with us in the comments section below.

See a Major Communications Boost Cloud-Hosted VoIP
Tip of the Week: How to Get Production Out of Your...
 

Comments 1

Guest on Friday, 01 March 2019 01:47

Sometimes hacks proves to be good in exposing the hidden realities that are important to know. Therefore just switch towards https://assignmentman.co.uk/proofreading/ cheap proofreading service uk this site and you may prosper through much details.

Sometimes hacks proves to be good in exposing the hidden realities that are important to know. Therefore just switch towards https://assignmentman.co.uk/proofreading/ cheap proofreading service uk this site and you may prosper through much details.
Guest
Already Registered? Login Here
Guest
Thursday, 21 November 2024

Captcha Image

Mobile? Grab this Article

QR Code

Customer Login


News & Updates

Horne & Benik is proud to announce the launch of our new website at www.horne-benik.com. The goal of the new website is to make it easier for our existing clients to submit and manage support requests, and provide more information about our services for ...

Contact us

Learn more about what Horne & Benik can do for your business.

Horne & Benik
2 School Street - PO Box 305
Marlborough, New Hampshire 03455