Hotel Industry Cyber-Crime Risks: Hotels Are #1 Target For Credit Card Data Theft As Centralized Processing And Economic Downturn Delay Encryption Software Upgrades

 “Because of the downturn in the economy, a lot of industries have stopped upgrading their software,” he said. “So they’re very open for being hacked at any point.”
A recent study shows the hotel industry is especially open for being hacked.
 
“The main reason is they’re such a central hub for where people run their cards,” Jones said.

 
Recent studies show hackers steal credit card data from hotels more than any other industry. 

“It’s not if it’s going to happen, it’s when it’s going to happen,” said John Sileo, a Denver resident who had his credit card information stolen on a recent business trip. “The Driskill Hotel had an entire database of customer information stolen. Mine was one of them.”

“Because of the downturn in the economy, a lot of industries have stopped upgrading their software,” he said. “So they’re very open for being hacked at any point.”

A recent study shows the hotel industry is especially open for being hacked.

Ryan Jones, a data-security consultant with Trustwave, has been watching a steady increase in hotel hacking.

Trustwave found that out of all the hacking cases they investigated last year, 38 percent involved hotels, well ahead of financial services (banks) at 19 percent and retail at 14 percent.

Destination Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Englewood, is just one of the major chains that got hacked.

This summer, they told guests at 21 hotels across the country that their credit cards might be compromised.”Because of the downturn in the economy, a lot of industries have stopped upgrading their software,” he said. “So they’re very open for being hacked at any point.”

A recent study shows the hotel industry is especially open for being hacked.

Ryan Jones, a data-security consultant with Trustwave, has been watching a steady increase in hotel hacking.

“The main reason is they’re such a central hub for where people run their cards,” Jones said.

Trustwave found that out of all the hacking cases they investigated last year, 38 percent involved hotels, well ahead of financial services (banks) at 19 percent and retail at 14 percent.

Destination Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Englewood, is just one of the major chains that got hacked.

This summer, they told guests at 21 hotels across the country that their credit cards might be compromised.

For more:  http://www.thedenverchannel.com/money/25881609/detail.html

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