Lincoln — Neb. Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced that a coalition of 50 Attorneys General has reached a $52 millon settlement with Marriott International, Inc. as the result of an investigation into a large multi-year data breach of one of its guest reservation databases.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with 49 states and the District of Columbia, worked on the settlement together to address data breaches that took place between 2014 and 2018.
Marriott acquired Starwood in 2016 and took control of the Starwood computer network in 2016. However, from July 2014 until September 2018, intruders in the system went undetected.
This led to the breach of 131.5 million guest records pertaining to customers in the United States.The impacted records included passport information, payment card numbers, loyalty numbers, dates of birth, email addresses and/or personal information.
The FTC has reached a parallel settlement with Marriott. Under the settlement with the Attorneys General, Marriott has agreed to strengthening its data security practices using a dynamic risk-based approach, provide certain consumer protections, and make a $52 million payment to states. Nebraska will receive $707,448 from the settlement.
