What You Need To Know About Marriott’s Recent Data Breach

On Tuesday, March 31, Marriott International announced that there may have been a data breach that compromised the information of over 5.2 million guests. This is the second time in the past two years that the hotel group has experienced such a massive breach.

In this breach, the company believes that passport information, driver’s licence numbers, and credit card information were not part of what was taken. According to their official website, the information that was potentially compromised includes:

• contact details (e.g., name, mailing address, email address, and phone number)

• loyalty account information (e.g., account number and points balance—but not passwords)

• additional personal details (e.g., company, gender, and birthdate day and month)

• partnerships and affiliations (e.g., linked airline loyalty programs and numbers)

• preferences (e.g., stay/room preferences and language preference)

This is not the first time Marriott has experienced a massive data breach, as we reported two years ago.

Here’s what to do if you were affected by the most recent breach:

1. Change your password immediately.

2. Sign up for WebWatcher—a site that monitors your personal info and notifies you if it appears anywhere it was not authorise by you.

3. Set up a credit alert to monitor any change in your score or new accounts/loans not authorised or applied for by you.

Looking for a more comprehensive guide on what to do in the event of any data breach? We’ve got you.