Marriott faces $123M fine in UK due to massive data breach
Hotel chain Marriott is expected to be fined $123 million by the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after a massive data breach.
The hotel chain released a statement Tuesday saying it would contest the fine. The company also said it will “vigorously defend its position.”
“We are disappointed with this notice of intent from the ICO, which we will contest. Marriott has been cooperating with the ICO throughout its investigation into the incident, which involved a criminal attack against the Starwood guest reservation database,” Marriott International’s President and CEO Arne Sorenson said in a statement.
“We deeply regret this incident happened,” the statement continued. “We take the privacy and security of guest information very seriously and continue to work hard to meet the standard of excellence that our guests expect from Marriott.”
In November 2018, the hotel group announced that data from as many as 500 million guests at its Starwood hotels may have been compromised by unauthorized access dating to 2014.
The Bethesda, Md.,-based company revised that figure to 323 million guests, and said around 25 million passport numbers may have been compromised. The company has alerted affected guests. The hack started in 2014 but was discovered in November 2018, Marriott said.
Marriott said the Starwood database that may have been compromised is no longer in use.
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FOX Business’ James Leggate and The Associated Press contributed to this report.