Hotel Company Investigates Data Breach, Card Fraud

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks-and-breaches/hotel-company-investigates-data-breach-card-fraud/d/d-id/1113671

By Mathew J. Schwartz
InformationWeek.com
2/3/2014

White Lodging Services, a hospitality company that manages 168 hotels in 
21 states -- under franchises from Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, and Westin 
-- is investigating reports that it suffered a data breach that lasted 
from March 2013 until the end of the year.

Word of the breaches first surfaced Friday when security journalist Brian 
Krebs reported that unnamed card processors had tied fraud involving 
hundreds of credit cards to a number of Marriott properties operated by 
White Lodging Services, which is based in Merrillville, Ind. The affected 
hotels were located in Austin, Texas, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, 
Louisville, Ky., and Tampa, Fla., among other cities, reported Krebs.

White Lodging confirmed Saturday that it's investigating the reported data 
breach. "An investigation is in progress, and we will provide meaningful 
information as soon as it becomes available," White Lodge spokeswoman 
Kathleen Quilligan told The Times of Northwest Indiana.

White Lodge, described on the company's website as "a fully integrated 
hotel ownership, development, and operations company," is owned by Dean 
White, 90, whose hotel, real estate, and billboard business empire has 
given him what Forbes estimated to be a net worth of $1.9 billion. His 
company now manages 168 hotels under a variety of brand names, including 
Hilton and its Hampton Inn brand; Marriott and its Courtyard, Fairfield 
Inn, Residence Inn, and Springhill Suites brands; and Starwood and its 
Sheraton and Westin brands.

[...]



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