Marriott security breach exposed data of up to 500M guests
NEW YORK (AP) — A security breach inside the Marriott hotel empire compromised the information of as many as 500 million guests worldwide, exposing their credit card numbers, passport numbers and birth dates for as long as four years, the company said Friday.
The crisis quickly emerged as one of the largest data breaches on record. By comparison, last year's startling Equifax hack affected more than 145 million people.
Analysts were alarmed by the length of time the breach had been going on. Many security breaches span months, an average of 90 to 200 days, but this one began in 2014.
The affected hotel brands were operated by Starwood before it was acquired by Marriott in 2016. They include W Hotels, St.