Breach at Brunswick Hotel Probably Exposes Data of More than 2,600 Customers

Pressherald.com reported on 2nd September, 2015 stating that Portland-based Olympia Hotel Management which manages Brunswick Hotel & Tavern based at Maine started informing its more than 2,600 former guests on 28th August, 2015 about a tainted program or malware found on the computer system of the hotel which might have enabled scammers to embezzle their payment credentials.

Pressherald.com published news on 2nd September, 2015 quoting an official of Olympia as saying "The unfortunate guests included an estimated 320 residents of Maine."

Dan Flaherty, Chief Financial Officer of Olympia, said that the malware might have been released by a worker unknowingly by opening an attachment in a tainted email.

He said that they deem it to be a phishing email scam.

Bangordailynews.com published news on 2nd September, 2015 quoting a message as "It emerges that one of the computers at the front desktop of the hotel was tainted with advanced malware designed to seize and allow remote access to information of payment card and avoid detection by AV software."

The message stated that hotel staff believes that the malware was active on one of its computers at front desk from 29th November, 2014 till 21st July, 2015. According to the message, security experts of the hotel identified the malware on 12th August, 2015.

Flaherty said that the breach involved names and credit card credentials and not any other personal information. He added that the hotel has since upgraded its malware detection software.

Flaherty also said that they are committed to protect the credentials and they regret for any inconvenience caused due to this.

The Maine-based hotel has highlighted more steps which include: Firstly, be vigilant towards fraud and identity theft by reviewing account statements and monitoring credit reports. Secondly, once your enrollment in ProtectMyID is complete, you should carefully review your credit report for wrong or doubtful items. However, if you have any questions about ProtectMyID, you can contact customer care team of Experian at 877-297-7780.

Moreover, this is not the first time that a well-known hotel has informed its customers about a likely security breach of its computer network because similar reports also emerged during early March 2015 from Mandarin Oriental, an up-market hotel chain. The hotel had admitted about security breach of a credit card and said that it came to know about the same from a third party.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/16/2015