Marriott facing multi-million dollar lawsuit after data breach

Hotels
07-10-2019 1:32 pm
Christine Hogg

Christine Hogg

Christine Hogg is the Associate Digital Editor at PAX Global Media. Prior to joining PAX, she obtained her Honours BA in Journalism from the University of Toronto. Upon graduating, she went on to write for several travel publications while travelling the world. Her longest trip was a three-week stint in Europe, and the shortest was a 16-hour adventure in Iceland. Get in touch: christine@paxglobalmedia.com.

Back in November 2018, Marriott International confirmed that approximately 500 million guests of Marriott properties had their personal data compromised in a massive hack of Starwood’s reservation system.

A subsequent investigation into the incident revealed that unauthorized access to the system had been taking place since 2014.

In a statement issued via it's website, Marriott International confirmed that the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has communicated its intent to issue a fine in the amount of £99,200,396 against the company in relation to the Starwood guest reservation database incident.

Starwood database suspended

The company states that "Marriott has the right to respond before any final determination is made and a fine can be issued by the ICO. The company intends to respond and vigorously defend its position.

“We are disappointed with this notice of intent from the ICO, which we will contest," said Arne Sorenson, said, president and CEO, Marriott International. "Marriott has been cooperating with the ICO throughout its investigation into the incident, which involved a criminal attack against the Starwood guest reservation database. We deeply regret this incident happened. We take the privacy and security of guest information very seriously and continue to work hard to meet the standard of excellence that our guests expect from Marriott.”

According to Marriott International, The Starwood guest reservation database that was attacked is no longer used for business operations.

For more information about the Starwood guest reservation database incident, visit https://info.starwoodhotels.com/.

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