Marriott Reveals New Details in Starwood Data Breach

Marriott International disclosed revised information on Jan. 4 about the massive data breach involving its Starwood Hotels division. The update includes both good and bad news about the impact from the data breach. First the good news: Originally Marriott reported on Nov. 30, 2018, that information from approximately 500 million individuals who have made reservations at Starwood properties around the world was potentially at risk. Now Marriott is revising the impacted number downward by more than 100 million. "Marriott now believes that the number of potentially involved guests is lower than the 500 million the company had originally estimated," Marriott stated in a media advisory. "Marriott has identified approximately 383 million records as the upper limit for the total number of guest records that were involved in the incident." Marriott noted that 383 million records does not necessarily translate to 383 million consumers either, since there are likely to be duplicate records. That said, the hotel chain stated that it could not conclusively provide a lower number for those impacted, due to the way the customer database is constructed.