Marriott: The largest hotel chain in the world, “30 hotel brands now fall under the Marriott umbrella to create the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 5,800 properties and 1.1 million rooms in more than 110 countries. That’s more than 1 out of every 15 hotel rooms around the globe.”
Risk to Small Business: Extreme: Considering how damaging this breach will be to Marriott, the largest hotel chain in the world, it is safe to say that the ramifications of a breach as severe as this one has the potential to cripple a small business. One of the most damaging parts of this breach is that there has been unauthorized access to the Starwood network since 2014, meaning a bad actor, or group of bad actors, has been siphoning off data for years without being detected.
Individual Risk: Severe: Those affected by this breach are at an increased risk of phishing attacks. Identity theft is also a very real possibility due to the amount of information accessed, including passport numbers. The passport numbers alone could fetch a good price on the Dark Web.
Customers Impacted: Approximately 500 million.
How it Could Affect You:The length of time information was being accessed is one of the most damaging parts of this breach, as well as the massive scope. The largest hotel chain in the world has been compromised since 2016 (although Starwood, the compromised subsidiary has been compromised since 2014, Marriott purchased the brand in 2016). Those who were affected by the breach are likely to avoid the chain in the future and those who are not will certainly be more hesitant.
In Other News:
IranIran SamSam Goes ByeBye
Two Iranian men living in New Jersey were indicted for using the infamous SamSam ransomware to collect over $6million USD and causing over $30 million USD in damages. SamSam is well known for its targeting of infrastructure, including hospitals. Here is a list of some of the targets during their spree:
City of Atlanta, Georgia; the City of Newark, New Jersey; the Port of San Diego, California; the Colorado Department of Transportation; the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and six health care-related entities: Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, California; Kansas Heart Hospital in Wichita, Kansas; Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, more commonly known as LabCorp, headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina; MedStar Health, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland; Nebraska Orthopedic Hospital now known as OrthoNebraska Hospital, in Omaha, Nebraska and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
The bad guys are taking advantage of mobile shoppers this holiday season! By using mobile apps, they can trick you into giving your personal information or installing malware onto your smartphone. This can give them access to your credit card information or lock your smartphone with ransomware, forcing you to pay a fee to unlock it. To stay safe this year, never download apps from offers that sound too good to be true, never download from unofficial app stores, and do your research. Make sure to check for any fake reviews, the number of downloads the app has, spelling errors, or strange logos. When in doubt, only use retailers you trust through their official sites or apps.
If you’re using the same password for multiple accounts, you’re making yourself vulnerable! If the bad guys have your credentials for one site, they can use tools to automatically test those credentials on other sites. So, if you are using the same password for multiple accounts, change that password immediately!
Hands Off My Data!
It may be the start of the Holiday Season but don’t think that means the bad guys are on vacation! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the busiest online shopping days and the bad guys are out to get rich with your money. After all, ‘tis the season for scams and phishing.