As many as 500 million guests <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/shanghai-temporarily-closes-marriott-website-in-china-after-questionnaire-gaffe-29230">Marriott International hotels may </a>have been victims of a hack of the chain's reservation database, the company announced Friday.

Marriott said it was alerted on September 8 that there had been an attempt to hack their reservation database in the United States.

The company discovered "that there had been unauthorised access to the Starwood network since 2014" which compromised personal and financial information.

The probe found "an unauthorised party had copied and encrypted information and took steps towards removing it."

After decrypting the information, the company found on November 19 "that the contents were from the Starwood guest reservation database."

Hotel brands in the Starwood network include Sheraton, Westin, Four Points and W Hotels.

"We deeply regret this incident happened," Marriott chief Arne Sorenson said in a statement. "We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves."

Marriott said hackers accessed information like names, addresses and dates of birth from most of the affected customers but could not rule out that they were able to access some encrypted credit card information.

The company said it would reach out to victims of the hack and is offering support to those affected including free, one-year enrollment in WebWatcher a service which monitors internet sites where personal data is shared.

Marriott also is working with law enforcement and security experts to tighten security on its system.

"Finally, we are devoting the resources necessary to phase out Starwood systems and accelerate the ongoing security enhancements to our network," Sorenson said.

It is the latest case of massive breaches that compromise personal data and can cause years of headaches for victims, who often face serious legal and financial repercussions. 
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As many as 500 million guests Marriott International hotels may have been victims of a hack of the chain's reservation database, the company announced Friday. Marriott said it was alerted on September 8 that there had been an attempt to hack their reservation database in the United States.

As many as 500 million guests Marriott International hotels may have been victims of a hack of the chain's reservation database, the company announced Friday. Marriott said it was alerted on September 8 that there had been an attempt to hack their reservation database in the United States. The company discovered "that there had been unauthorised access to the Starwood network since 2014" which compromised personal and financial information. The probe found "an unauthorised party had copied and encrypted information and took steps towards removing it." After decrypting the information, the company found on November 19 "that the contents were from the Starwood guest reservation database." Hotel brands in the Starwood network include Sheraton, Westin, Four Points and W Hotels. "We deeply regret this incident happened," Marriott chief Arne Sorenson said in a statement. "We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves." Marriott said hackers accessed information like names, addresses and dates of birth from most of the affected customers but could not rule out that they were able to access some encrypted credit card information. The company said it would reach out to victims of the hack and is offering support to those affected including free, one-year enrollment in WebWatcher a service which monitors internet sites where personal data is shared. Marriott also is working with law enforcement and security experts to tighten security on its system. "Finally, we are devoting the resources necessary to phase out Starwood systems and accelerate the ongoing security enhancements to our network," Sorenson said. It is the latest case of massive breaches that compromise personal data and can cause years of headaches for victims, who often face serious legal and financial repercussions.

Reservation database hacked, 500 million guests affected: Marriott hotel

Authorities in Shanghai on Thursday closed down Marriott International Inc&#39;s Chinese website for a week, punishing the world&#39;s biggest hotel chain for listing Chinese-claimed regions such as Tibet and Taiwan as separate countries in a customer questionnaire.

The US company issued an apology earlier in the day for the gaffe, which had drawn accusations of disrespecting Chinese sovereignty and calls for a boycott by angry netizens on Weibo, China&#39;s version of Twitter.

&quot;Marriott International respects Chinese sovereignty and its territorial integrity...We sincerely apologise for any actions that led to the misunderstanding on the aforementioned stance,&quot; the company said in a statement on its official Weibo account.

Aside from closing down the website, the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration said in the statement that it was shutting the Marriott&#39;s mobile phone application, in a move that would also disrupt bookings.

In a Mandarin-language questionnaire sent out to customers a few days ago, Marriott listed Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as separate countries.

China claims sovereignty over all four of territories, though Taiwan is self-ruled and has democratic elections.

The Shanghai government said it had asked Marriott to &quot;take down all relevant content, conduct a thorough check on all contents it posted on its website and online application to prevent anything similar, and address the public&#39;s concern in a timely fashion to eliminate a negative impact.&quot;

It also said Shanghai&#39;s Huangpu district market supervision bureau was launching an investigation into Marriott, as it was suspected of violating China&#39;s cyber security law and advertisement law.

Last year, South Korean companies were hit heavily by Chinese economic retaliation over Seoul&#39;s deployment of a US missile shield system.

Marriott issued an apology earlier in the day for the gaffe, which had drawn accusations of disrespecting Chinese sovereignty

Authorities in Shanghai on Thursday closed down Marriott International Inc's Chinese website for a week, punishing the world's biggest hotel chain for listing Chinese-claimed regions such as Tibet and Taiwan as separate countries in a customer questionnaire. The US company issued an apology earlier in the day for the gaffe, which had drawn accusations of disrespecting Chinese sovereignty and calls for a boycott by angry netizens on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. "Marriott International respects Chinese sovereignty and its territorial integrity...We sincerely apologise for any actions that led to the misunderstanding on the aforementioned stance," the company said in a statement on its official Weibo account. Aside from closing down the website, the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration said in the statement that it was shutting the Marriott's mobile phone application, in a move that would also disrupt bookings. In a Mandarin-language questionnaire sent out to customers a few days ago, Marriott listed Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as separate countries. China claims sovereignty over all four of territories, though Taiwan is self-ruled and has democratic elections. The Shanghai government said it had asked Marriott to "take down all relevant content, conduct a thorough check on all contents it posted on its website and online application to prevent anything similar, and address the public's concern in a timely fashion to eliminate a negative impact." It also said Shanghai's Huangpu district market supervision bureau was launching an investigation into Marriott, as it was suspected of violating China's cyber security law and advertisement law. Last year, South Korean companies were hit heavily by Chinese economic retaliation over Seoul's deployment of a US missile shield system.

Shanghai temporarily closes Marriott website in China after questionnaire gaffe

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Reservation database hacked, 500 million guests affected: Marriott hotel

Shanghai temporarily closes Marriott website in China after questionnaire gaffe