Marriott discloses massive data breach affecting up to 500 million guests

Marriott International, one of the largest hotel chains in the world, revealed that its Starwood reservations database had been hacked and that the personal information of up to 500 million guests could have been stolen. An unauthorized party had accessed the database since 2014. The breach included names, email addresses, passport numbers and payment information, according to the hotel giant. With the information of 500 million people having been compromised, Marriott’s breach is one of the biggest in history, second only to Yahoo’s breaches in 2013 and 2014, which affected 3 billion user accounts. The company said that it reported the breach to law enforcement and is also notifying regulatory authorities. 

News of the breach sparked questions among cybersecurity experts about whether the hackers were criminals collecting data for identity theft or nation-state spies collecting information on travelers worldwide, including possibly diplomats, business people or intelligence officials as they moved around the globe. Hotel chains, with their vast customer databases and proprietary Wi-Fi networks, likely make appealing targets.