The information of as many as 500 million people staying at Starwood hotels has been compromised and Marriott says it's uncovered unauthorized access that's been taking place within its Starwood network since 2014. The company said Friday that credit card numbers and expiration dates of some guests may have been taken.
Data breaches like the one at Marriott are being seen more often because, as the world continues moving toward a digital economy, we’re becoming more and more vulnerable to hackers.
“They have unique ways of monetizing it so it’s profitable to them and the risk of getting caught is very low,” explained Shawn Tuma, a cyber-security and data privacy attorney at Spencer Fane.
That, he says, makes it more important than ever for companies to develop a cultural commitment to cyber-security.
“Strategic planning is really important,” Tuma continued. “Then there has to be training and education of the workforce making sure people know what’s expected of them for protecting data.”
Tuma believes it’s just as important for companies to get their IT departments involved in cyber-security efforts - including patching, appropriate password protection policies, encryption, firewalls, multi-factor authentication and backups.