Hyatt Hotels Admits Malware Infection Of Payment System

Hyatt Hotels has admitted that its payment systems have been hit by credit-card-stealing malware.

The discovery is the latest in a growing number of hotel chains to have experienced some form of cyberattack or malware infection.

Sketchy Details

Hyatt Hotels made the admission in a brief statement, saying that it discovered on 30 November that malware had infected its payment processing system. The hotel chain did not explain why it has taken so long to notify the public, or indeed if the hackers succeeded in stealing payment card numbers

Hyatt also failed to say how long its its network had been infected, how many customers have been affected, or what type of malware had infected its payment system.

“Hyatt Hotels Corporation today announced that it recently identified malware on computers that operate the payment processing systems for Hyatt-managed locations,” said the hotel in a statement. “As soon as Hyatt discovered the activity, the company launched an investigation and engaged leading third-party cyber security experts.”

“The investigation is ongoing, and updates will be posted to www.hyatt.com/protectingourcustomers,” it said.

“Hyatt has taken steps to strengthen the security of its systems, and customers can feel confident using payment cards at Hyatt hotels worldwide,” it added.

Besides remaining sketchy on the details, Hyatt did advise customers to review their payment card account statements closely and report any unauthorised charges to their card issuer immediately.

Hotel Malware

Hyatt is not the first hotel chain to be hit by malware.

Last month Hilton revealed that some of its payment systems had been infected with malware that organised the theft of targeted customer information.

Prior to that, Starwood Hotels had also revealed it had suffered a similar breach of its payment systems.

In October The Trump Hotel Collection confirmed a breach of its payment systems. In September Hilton said it was investigating reports of a malware infection of its card-processing systems.

Mandarin Oriental acknowledged a similar breach in March, and hotel franchising firm White Lodging acknowledged a similar incident in April.

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