Pierluigi Paganini
December 29, 2016
The notorious investigators Brian Krebs was informed of a possible security breach at the hotel company InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Krebs received the news of the alleged card breach by his sources in the financial industry. According to the experts, the pattern of fraudulent activities had been observed on credit and debit cards used at some IHG properties.
“Those sources said they were seeing a pattern of fraud on customer credit and debit cards that suggested a breach at some IHG properties — particularly Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations.” wrote Krebs.
“Asked about the fraud patterns reported by my sources, a spokesperson for IHG said the company had received similar reports, and that it has hired an outside security firm to help investigate.”
IHG has more than 5,000 hotels across the world, the group includes many brands such InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, Hualuxe, Indigo, and Even.
Representatives at the Group confirmed they had been aware of the fraud patterns and promptly started an investigation with the support of a security firm.
Below the statement issued by the IHG:
“IHG takes the protection of payment card data very seriously. We were made aware of a report of unauthorized charges occurring on some payment cards that were recently used at a small number of U.S.-based hotel locations. We immediately launched an investigation, which includes retaining a leading computer security firm to provide us with additional support. We continue to work with the payment card networks.”
“We are committed to swiftly resolving this matter. In the meantime, and in line with best practice, we recommend that individuals closely monitor their payment card account statements. If there are unauthorized charges, individuals should immediately notify their bank. Payment card network rules generally state that cardholders are not responsible for such charges.”
While the investigation is ongoing customers have to closely monitor their payment card statements and notify any suspicious transaction.
InterContinental hotels suffered other breaches in the past, payment systems at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants were compromised by a PoS malware discovered this summer.
InterContinental hotels were also involved in a breach suffered earlier this year by HEI Hotels & Resorts.
The hospitality sector is a privileged target of hackers, according to the experts from Trustwave also the notorious Carbanak cybercrime gang changed strategy targeting organizations in the sector.
This yeas major companies operating in the industry admitted suffering a data breach including Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Trump Hotels, and Millennium Hotels & Resorts.
Stay Tuned.
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(Security Affairs – InterContinental Hotels, card breach)
Data Breach / November 21, 2024
