Category Archives: Technology

by | January 4, 2012 · 6:13 am

Hospitality Industry Crime Risks: Louisiana Hotels' "Business Centers" Used For "Online Prostitution"; Pictures And Ads Found On Computers

“…Prosecutors say a Houston man who had used a hotel business center to post online ads offering a woman for prostitution faces up to 10 years in prison…”

“… posted online advertisements for sexual services and reportedly kept all the profits his victims made…”

A Houston man has pleaded guilty to transporting a woman for commercial sex, the US Attorney’s Office says. In court, 30-year-old Jerald Bland admitted he transported a woman to Louisiana so she could engage in prostitution.

Bland, aka “Moe Betta”, was arrested following an undercover Houston Police investigation in March 2010. Officers discovered a camera containing pictures of women in sexually provocative poses and Bland flashing money.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 20, 2012. If convicted, Bland faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. Upon release, he also faces a lifetime sentence of supervised release.

Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/120103-man-pleads-guilty-in-sex-trafficking-case#ixzz1iUwAekmu

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by | January 2, 2012 · 6:29 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Security Risks: Denver Hotel's "Room Key System" Malfunctions Locking Guests Out Of Rooms For Three Hours

“Shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve, the hotel experienced a malfunction of the electronic room lock system. Once we became aware of the situation, we contacted the manufacturer of the system who provided technical support…”

Due to the inconvenience, the hotel gave guests refunds for the room.

Guests at the 628-room Denver Tech Center Marriott were locked out of their rooms when the clock struck midnight New Years. A room key malfunction kept guests out of their rooms from midnight until about 3 a.m.

Crowds of people packed into the lobby hoping to get key cards that worked. Others went to sleep in hallways. Hotel guests say it got pretty wild. “It was like a madhouse in there. It was crazy. I thought riots were going to start,” said Kyle Novak.

Denver Police say an officer called for assistance around 12:40 after a large disturbance in the parking lot. There were numerous reports of assaults and property damage.

In response to the incident Jennifer Atkins, the hotel’s general manager released the following statement.

 “We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused and are providing the night’s lodging free of charge to all registered guests. We will continue to work closely with the manufacturer of the lock system to better understand what may have caused the malfunction and will do what we can to prevent a similar malfunction from happening in the future.”

For more:  http://www.kwgn.com/news/kdvr-nye-guests-locked-out-of-denver-marriott-201211,0,7988711.story

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by | December 29, 2011 · 6:21 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Texas Hotel Uses Video Cameras To Identify Housekeeper Who Used "Portable Electronic Skimmer" To "Steal Guest Credit Card Numbers"

“…a number of guests who suspected someone had entered their rooms and stolen their credit card information, even though they were still in possession of their credit cards. Charges usually were applied to the credit cards several days after the guests had departed the hotel…”

“…While monitoring the hidden camera’s video feed real-time from the hotel security office, Jose Ramirez observed Margarita Fernandez Abreu remove a small device from her pants pocket and then slide approximately three of the debit cards through the device…”

The Stephen F Austin set up an elaborate ruse to trick a hotel maid into revealing she had stolen the credit and debit card numbers of hotel guests.

 Possible suspects in the case were narrowed down to maid Margarita Abreu, the only employee who had entered the room with an electronic key card. Knowing that, the hotel managers set up a hotel room that appeared to be occupied but wasn’t. A hidden camera was placed in the room that focused on the coffee table and debit cards.

 “Margarita also looked through the purse that was on the table as well. Margarita then concealed the device back in her pocket and continued cleaning the room.” After two detectives viewed the video and identified the object as a “card skimmer” that captured and saved the data. That data could be later downloaded and re-encoded to create “clone” credit cards.

Abreu was arrested on charges of credit card abuse, a state jail felony. Her bail was set at $15,000.

For more:  http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/video-shows-credit-card-theft

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by | December 18, 2011 · 6:55 am

Hospitality Industry Information Security: Study Finds Hotels Are "Prime Targets" For Financial Data Theft; "Infiltration Of Smartphones Through Bluetooth Technology"

“…Hotels also are prime targets for people looking to steal financial data. In a study of 200 data-breach cases, Trustwave’s SpiderLabs, the online security company’s research arm, found 38 percent occurred at hotels or resorts…”

Two key challenges for travelers involve the use of unsecured wireless networks at hotels, airports and other public venues and the infiltration of smartphones through Bluetooth technology.

Identity theft can be a rude awakening for many business travelers. Last year, identity theft made up 19 percent of the 1.3 million complaints stored in the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database available to law-enforcement agencies.

Experts say business travelers are especially vulnerable because they increasingly rely on electronic devices that easily can be lost or hacked. Credant Technologies, a data-protection company, found that travelers have lost 11,000 mobile devices at the busiest U.S. airports this year, 37.5 percent of them laptops and 37.2 percent tablets or smartphones.

“You are 15 times more likely to have your identity stolen than to have your car broken into,” said Todd Davis, chairman and CEO of LifeLock, an identity-theft protection company.

For more:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111218/BUSINESS/112180321/Identity-theft-risk-increases-when-traveling?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CBusiness%7Cs

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by | December 14, 2011 · 6:21 am

Hospitality Industry Information Security Risks: Most Hotels And Restaurants Have Experienced A "Cyber Attack" In The Past Year; "Intellectual Property Protection" Is Too Often Ignored

“…Seventy-three percent of small-to-middle-sized companies experienced a cyber attack in 2010, and 30% of those attacks were extremely effective, according to Symantec, a software security developer based in Mountan View, Calif…”

“…estimates are that this year…the cost associated with each breach has gone up to $214 per record…Negligence is a big issue,” “

With the increase in worldwide cyber crimes, smaller private businesses may be more vulnerable than larger ones, said an executive of Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. “It’s the perfect cyber storm,” said Ken Goldstein, vice president of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. “We’re in a bad economy; we’ve got private companies, generally small to middle in market size, that are strapped in what they can spend on intellectual property protection,” he said.

At the same time, he said, new technology means “cyber thieves can essentially hack from anywhere around the globe.”

Cyber crimes can do serious harm to an organization’s bottom line. According to Ponemon’s, the median annualized cost of cyber crimes for the 50 organizations studied was $5.9 million, with a range of $1.5 million to $36.5 million. This represents a 56% increase since last year.

“Multiply that by the number of customers that you service; it could be a sizable amount of money that a company would have to pay out of pocket,” Goldstein said.

The most costly cyber crimes are those caused by malicious code, denial of service, stolen devices and Web-based attacks, Goldstein said. Besides deliberate cyber theft, Goldstein says company information loss sometimes is a byproduct of employee negligence. An employee losing their mobile device at a hotel or restaurant, for example, could lead to a breach, he said.

For more:  http://www.fa-mag.com/fa-news/9382-smaller-private-companies-at-greater-risk-of-cyber-attack-.html

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by | December 2, 2011 · 6:04 am

Hospitality Industry Privacy Risks: Mobile Phone Carriers Confirm That Mobile Devices "Integrate Tracking Software" That Reveals User's Location

“…AT&T, Sprint, HTC, and Samsung today confirmed that their mobile phones integrate a controversial piece of tracking software from a company called Carrier IQ..”

“…the software can be tweaked to gather more intrusive data about a user’s location, the software and applications on the device, which keys are being pressed and what applications are in use…”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T17XQI_AYNo]

Both wireless carriers AT&T and Sprint insisted that the software is being used solely to improve wireless network performance while phone makers HTC and Samsung said they were integrating the software into their handsets only because their carrier customers were asking for it.

Meanwhile, several large carriers and handset makers, including Verizon, Research In Motion, and Nokia, distanced themselves from the software and insisted that reports about their devices integrating the tool are false.

The controversy began last week when independent security researcher Trevor Eckhart published a report disclosing how Carrier IQ’s software could be used by carriers and device makers to conduct surreptitious and highly intrusive tracking of Android and other smartphone users.

Eckhart described the software as a hard-to-detect and equally hard-to-remove rootkit that could be used by carriers and phone makers to collect almost any kind of data from a mobile phone without the user’s knowledge. Eckhart said his research showed that Carrier IQ’s software was often enabled to run by default on several mobile devices including those from Samsung, HTC, RIM, and others.

A lot of the information collected by Carrier IQ is designed to enable mobile operators and device vendors to quickly identify and address quality and service-related issues.

For more:  http://www.macworld.com/article/163982/2011/12/atandt_sprint_confirm_use_of_carrier_iq_tracking_software_on_mobile_phones.html

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by | December 1, 2011 · 6:04 am

Hospitality Industry Security Risks: New "High-Definition Surveillance Systems" Hold Promise Of Reducing "Theft-Related Losses And False Liability Claims"

“… high-definition surveillance system will also help the resort further eliminate costs by reducing theft-related losses in the resort’s restaurants and cafes and reduce the number and cost of false liability claims—which will cut insurance premiums over time. The security team can search and review footage much quicker, freeing them up for other important tasks…”

Avigilon, a leader in high-definition (HD) and megapixel video surveillance solutions, today announced that Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Conference Center in Berks County, Pennsylvania has deployed the Avigilon high-definition surveillance system to better protect its corporate assets and ensure the safety of its more than 315,000 annual guests. Bear Creek Mountain Resort replaced its analog-based surveillance system with the Avigilon high-definition surveillance solution for greater reliability, enhanced image quality, and the ability to more efficiently and quickly resolve incidents onsite.

Security personnel seamlessly manage the Avigilon high-definition surveillance system using the Avigilon Control Center network video management software (NVMS) with High-Definition Stream Management (HDSM) technology. The resort installed 42 Avigilon HD cameras ranging from 1 MP to 5 MP to monitor parking lots, the dock alley, the main pedestrian thoroughfare, equipment storage area, snow tubing hill, restaurants, hotel, and at the top and bottom of its chairlifts. Avigilon analog video encoders were installed to improve performance of the resort’s existing analog cameras. The system is monitored 24×7 and the resort stores 21 days of continuous surveillance video on an Avigilon Network Video Recorder (NVR.) The management team has remote access to the system as well.

For more:  http://www.securityinfowatch.com/bear-creek-mountain-resort-deploys-hd-surveillance-system

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by | November 24, 2011 · 6:47 am

Hospitality Industry Information Security: Hotel Chain Computer System Hacked By Man Who Threatened To Reveal Confidential Information If He Was Not Hired For IT Position

“…an infected email attachment (was) sent to some Marriott employees to install malicious software on the company’s system that gave him a “backdoor” access to proprietary email and other files…”

“…Nemeth sent an email to Marriott staff on November 11 last year, informing them that he had been accessing Marriott’s computers for months and had obtained proprietary information… He threatened to reveal the information if Marriott did not give him a job maintaining the company’s computers…”

A Hungarian citizen has pleaded guilty to stealing confidential information from the computers of Marriott International, and threatening to reveal the information if the hotel chain did not offer him a job maintaining the company’s computers, the Department of Justice said.

Attila Nemeth, 26, pleaded guilty in a US court, according to a statement by DOJ. He was detained after he travelled to the states on a ticket purchased by Marriott for a fictitious job interview.

As he had not received a response from Marriott, Nemeth sent another mail on November 13 containing eight attachments, seven of which were documents stored on Marriott’s computers. The documents included financial documentation and other confidential and proprietary information, the DOJ said.

A US Secret Service agent, using the identity of a fictitious employee of Marriott, communicated with Nemeth on November 18, who continued to call and email the undercover agent demanding a job to prevent the public release of the documents, according to the plea agreement. Nemeth emailed a copy of his Hungarian passport as identification and offered to travel to America, according to the DOJ.

For more:  http://news.techworld.com/security/3320672/marriott-hotel-chain-hacked-by-disgruntled-job-seeker/

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by | November 17, 2011 · 3:37 am

Hospitality Industry Internet Risks: Recent Studies Show Dramatic Increases "Mobile Space Cybercrime" As Criminals Focus On Smartphones And Tablets

“…The usage of Internet through mobile phone had been on a rapid upward trend. This led to 42 per cent more mobile vulnerabilities last year compared to the year before, as shown in a Symantec Internet Security Threat Report…”

“…cybercriminals were starting to focus their efforts on the mobile space as more and more mobile users switched to smartphones and tablets instead of the conventional desktops…”

A recent worldwide study conducted by Norton by Symantec aimed at unveiling the cost of global crime, has concluded that online adults footed a bill of over US$388 billion in the past year.

According to Symantec Corporation Sdn Bhd consumer sales manager Jason Mok, the price tag came to be as the study took into account not only the direct cash cost of cybercrime – that being the money stolen by cybercrime and money spent on resolving cyber-attacks – which was up to US$114 billion, but also the amount which victims of cybercrime valued the time they lost to cybercrime, which was US$274 billion.

“The Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 found that more than two thirds of online adults have been a victim of cybercrime in their lifetime. Every second, 14 adults become a victim of cybercrime, resulting in more than one million cybercrime victims per day,” stated Mok, who also pointed out that the rate was higher than the worldwide birth rate.

Mok marked this as a sign that cybercriminals were starting to focus their efforts on the mobile space as more and more mobile users switched to smartphones and tablets instead of the conventional desktops.

“This had led to an increasing importance of mobile security, as you are not only losing your phone or tablet, you are losing your personal information, identity as well as your money,” Mok informed the crowd during a media briefing held at a hotel here yesterday.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/11/16/norton-by-symantec-study-reveals-alarming-rate-of-cybercrime-caused-by-under-protection/#ixzz1dvTlh9u3

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by | November 9, 2011 · 6:46 am

Hospitality Industry Security Risks: Las Vegas Hotel Housekeeper "Sexually Assaulted" In Hotel Room; Security And Surveillance Measures Had Been Cut And Scaled Back In Recent Years

“…In the 1990s and early 2000s, the hotel used to provide for a security guard at the employee parking lot. That position has been cut, the co-worker said…”

“…The number of security guards assigned to walk guest floors to monitor safety also has been scaled back over the years, said the employee, who suggested there should be at least one security guard at guest elevators to check identifications…”

A Las Vegas man accused of beating and raping a 65-year-old Strip hotel maid last week kept clothing in his home that may have been bloodied in the attack, police said.

According to his Las Vegas police arrest report, David Randell Ferren, 19, kept a bloody jacket, belt and condoms that may have been worn during the assault of a Bally’s hotel maid on the morning of Nov. 1.

The report alleges Ferren punched the maid in the face as she was entering a room on the 59th floor of Bally’s about 9:30 a.m. Security footage showed Ferren exiting an elevator on that floor shortly before the attack, police said.

In the arrest report, police said Ferren forced the maid into the room and raped her. The assault was interrupted after the occupant of the room entered. That woman told detectives she saw a naked man getting dressed as the maid fled the room, the report said.

Another maid saw the man using an emergency exit , the report said.

For more:  http://www.lvrj.com/news/suspect-in-strip-rape-kept-bloody-clothing-police-say-133403473.html

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