Marriott loses data on 200,000 customers

Hotel chain Marriott admitted last Tuesday that backup computer tapes containing data on approximately 206,000 customers were missing from a company office in Florida.

The data, which relates to customers of its time-share division, Marriott Vacation Club International, included personal information such as the credit card details, Social Security numbers and, in a few cases, the bank details of customers.

The company said it has contacted the affected customers and is offering to enroll them free-of-charge in a credit-monitoring service so that customers can discover if there is any irregular activity on their account.

"We regret this situation has occurred and realize this may cause concern for our associates and customers," said Stephen Weisz, the president of Marriott Vacation Club.

The company has launched an investigation into how the tapes disappeared.

Customers of Marriott Vacation Club who are concerned that they may have been impacted can find out more information from the company Web site.

Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[Mr. Dee]

I know who is behind this...

Paris Hilton

[i_made_this]

Free Equifax Reports for All!

WTG Marriott! Your generosity is only exceeded by your ineptitude. Guess it'll take a few multi-million dollar law suits to show you the error of your ways, huh? Y'know, CNET, there are so many of these reports lately that it'd be super-wonderful to actually follow one up thru its closure and report on what one of these firms did to patch up their inept computer security systems. Free Equifax reports...oy... .

[ceebee513]

Credit Monitoring Useless Against Criminals

You're right, CNET and all the other media outlets should dedicate some press coverage of how these companies are flying with no regard for DUE DILIGENCE to protect private customer information from unauthorized exposure or abuse. And for those companies who REFUSE to implement data backup and security best practices they should be held publicly accountable. There are a growing number of identity theft related lawsuits in court right now, but it's being treated like a big secret by the media.

Like you said, its going to take huge lawsuits for corporations to DO something about their security and federal compliance posture. See www.safeguardprogram.com for more info about what data security best practices are and who should take action.

About Equifax...what good does credit report monitoring if an identity thief decides to get a new driver license or state id using your personal information? NONE!!! They can still commit crimes in your name and what's worse, fraud alerts many times do not stop new accounts from being opened without your knowledge or consent. Ask them about that next time you get a "free" monitoring offer and see what response you get (if any).

[heystoopid]

Oh well

Oh well, cheap cost cutting methods, always disadvantages the customer!

The time has come for a new law that directly fines the individual company shareholder a minimum fine of not less than USD$10,000-00 for each incident, for the loss of any customer sensitive data.

For come the AGM, all shareholders, will be literally throwing boulders at the cheap CEO and his sidekicks, who compromises any computer database !

[Vetter83]

This WILL only continue.....

until the companies that use/keep/profit from the publics information are made financially liable for ANY leaks, loses, misappropriations...
THEN and only THEN will they fix any of it!
Until then, all your information is free for the taking by anyone smart enough and YOU alone will pay the price..

[ceebee513]

Accountability When?

You are absolutely right. But not just big companies, small businesses and non-profit organizations are equally liable to protect personal information from theft or abuse. The only way businesses will become more accountable is when they start paying huge out of court settlements and judgements for negligence.

The media could do a LOT more to make the public aware of the danger they are being subjected to but it's almost impossible to get that kind of news published. Hopefully this will change soon.