Hackers steal thousands of Wyndham credit card numbers

[OhioChick]

Source: Computer World

The company estimates that 41 Wyndham hotels and resorts were affected

February 18, 2009 (IDG News Service) Hackers broke into a computer at Wyndham Hotels and Resorts last July and stole tens of thousands of customer credit card numbers, the hotel chain warns.

The break-in occurred at a property belonging to a Wyndham franchisee, but that computer was linked to other company systems. "That intrusion enabled a hacker to use the company server to search for customer information located at other franchised and managed property sites," the company said in a statement disclosing the breach.

The data was then uploaded to a Web site during July and August of 2008, Wyndham said. The company estimates that 41 Wyndham hotels and resorts were affected by the breach before it was discovered by the company's information security team in mid-September. The incident did not affect other Wyndham properties such as Days Inn, Ramada or Super 8.

Wyndham has not said how many guests were affected by the theft, but it may have affected as many as 21,000 customers in Florida according to that state's attorney general. Wyndham's representatives did not return calls seeking comment on the breach.

The criminals were able to get guest names, credit card numbers and expiration dates as well as data from the card's magnetic stripe, Wyndham said.



Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128222&intsrc=hm_list

[Piewhacket]

1. Sweet momma mia. OMG. Everybody has to change their cards!!! Damn

The criminals were able to get guest names, credit card numbers and expiration dates as well as
data from the card's magnetic stripe, Wyndham said.

Whats on the magnetic strip???? I'll bet its encrypted with the PIN!
1-5 seconds with a fast computer to break the PIN. Then they'd have
the customer ID PLUS the card PLUS the customer PIN (probably used
for other things too, liker bank accounts)!!!!!

Ohhhhh.... shit.

[AnOhioan]

2. 252,424,509

Total number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in security breaches in the U.S. since January 2005.

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm


Just an FYI

[OhioChick]

3. Isn't that insane?

Never hear much about that on the MSM about that now, do you?

[Mojorabbit]

5. This is why I am not so

keen on having medical records electronically available.

[ChromeFoundry]

4. Eight weeks?

After an eight-week investigation, Wyndham notified the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates financial crimes, as well as credit card companies. Customers were made aware of the breach in December. Last week, it posted more details on the incident to its Web site.

I took eight weeks to notify the authorities?