Credit and Debit Card Data Breached at Some US Hotels

First Target, then Neiman Marcus, then possibly Michaels, and now it looks like credit and debit card data has been breached at a company that manages 169 hotels.

KrebsOnSecurity reported:

White Lodging, a company that maintains hotel franchises under nationwide brands including Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Westin appears to have suffered a data breach that exposed credit and debit card information on thousands of guests throughout much of 2013, KrebsOnSecurity has learned.

The possible breach was discovered by banking officials who noticed “a pattern of fraud on hundreds of cards that were all previously used at Marriott hotels from roughly March 23, 2013, through the end of the year,” said Krebs, a respected website that was the first to report the massive Target data breach.

White Lodging said Monday that the breach affected only the restaurants and lounges at 14 U.S. hotels, says USA Today. So if you used your credit card only to book a room or you charged your meals to your room, you would not be affected. You can find the list of affected hotels here.

USA Today said, “The suspected credit and debit card breach occurred between March 20 and Dec. 16 at restaurants, lounges and other food and beverage outlets at those properties, the company said in a statement this afternoon.”

Meanwhile, despite the recent thefts of credit and debit card data, Americans haven’t abandoned plastic. Reuters reported on the results of a recent Ipsos/Reuters survey: “About 64 percent of the data theft victims said the experience had not deterred them from using their credit or debit cards, and 63 percent continued to shop online.”

If you think you’ve been a victim of the latest breach, this post contains some general tips.

Have data breaches stopped or slowed your credit or debit card purchases? Please tell us below or on our Facebook page.