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Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

reuters.com

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Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#31

Post by lotsofpulp »

gumby wrote: post #28
gkoberger wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never given my birthday or gender to a hotel, so my best guess is that they just have this info for some people but not most (rewards programs, perhaps?). It's possible they write it down when I give them my ID, but it seems like a lot of work for very little payoff.

In the US it is common now to swipe the driver’s license in order to verify age, at places as varied as bars and nightclubs, liquor stores, general shops that also sell liquor, and such. All you need to prove is your age, but the company that puts the scanner in place (in the case of bars and restaurants) collects all the info on the DL. Walgreens collects all the info and correlates it with your CC if you don’t pay…

I’m not aware of any major hotel brand that swipes driver’s licenses yet in the US.

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#32

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

onetimemanytime wrote: post #13
jakub_g wrote: post #10

> contact details, loyalty account information and additional personal details such as gender and birthdays I'm always wondering why a random service would need a date of birth (apart from validating "the person is an adult"). Some of them give you a special promo for your birthday, but I guess I can live without that. Except banking & government services, I typically provide a fake one if required, because, WTF?

Gather as much as you can is their idea. It costs you nothing, but it may be valuable one day.

I wonder if there will be a "data bubble" that will burst.

I mean, I would imagine a TON of places have my birthday now. How valuable is that information really?

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#34

Post by spydum »

waterfowl wrote: post #4
Drip33 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the bright side, nobody else is booking hotels anymore so they have time to fix their systems this time around.

they've furloughed 2/3 of their corporate HQ staff https://wtop.com/business-finance/2020/03/marriott-furloughs...

Yup and the individual hotels are being cut just as hard if not harder. Bad days to be in the hospitality biz.

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#35

Post by zamadatix »

ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #32
onetimemanytime wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gather as much as you can is their idea. It costs you nothing, but it may be valuable one day.

I wonder if there will be a "data bubble" that will burst. I mean, I would imagine a TON of places have my birthday now. How valuable is that information really?

Whats to burst, storage is dirt cheap and they get their tiny data breach fines (if any) whether or not they store the color of your second dogs favorite chew toy with the rest of the info.

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#36

Post by farisjarrah »

ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #32
onetimemanytime wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gather as much as you can is their idea. It costs you nothing, but it may be valuable one day.

I wonder if there will be a "data bubble" that will burst. I mean, I would imagine a TON of places have my birthday now. How valuable is that information really?

Entering your birthday is one of the main methods for account recovery for legacy systems like schools, hospitals, government websites, etc. It's stupid and many companies have moved away from that, but it was definitely more of a thing a few years ago.

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#37

Post by avz »

The reason the practice of collecting consumer data is so prevalent is that it is very easy to do and opens potential opportunities for the business in future. Never mind that it exposes consumers to risks.

The practice won't stop until consumer data becomes a liability for any business touching it. At that time, only businesses that are actually able to utilize the data to derive revenue sufficient to compensate the liability will continue to collect it. Hopefully, in many cases the revenue would come about as a result of creation of some value for the consumer.

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#39

Post by chrischen »

ogre_codes wrote: post #33

Is it safe now to just assume that most everything about me has been exposed to someone? My only hope is that the number of places I've provided bogus information to creates enough noise that the truth is obscured some.

Probably (Mastercard provides free monitoring of leaked databases: https://mastercardus.idprotectiononline.com/enrollment/embed...) however the service is kinda garbage because they censor it so much that I have no idea what of my data is actually leaked), but from a quick Google search it looks like you've voluntarily given out a lot about yourself anyways. I think most people have and are lulled into a sense of false security simply because no one has a need to target them yet. Sort of like the "I've done nothing illegal so I have nothing to fear" mentality but substitute government with criminals.

Re: Marriott says 5.2M guests exposed in new data breach

#40

Post by sneak »

This is a good reason to carry a fake ID and a corporate credit card issued in the same name. (Most banks will allow you to issue subaccount cards on a corporate credit line in any name you type in the box.)

Being able to predict when you might be at a given hotel in the future (which is possible from one's stay history, e.g. a conference you attend every year) is tremendously useful for blackmailers, kidnappers, and the like.

I personally refuse to allow my PII in these databases on these grounds, and these days it's impossible to get a hotel room without an ID, so this is the only option.

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