Stolen Customer Data, Might as Well Have the Keys to the Hotel

Wired covers this story out of Europe where a hacker installed a trojan virus that steals customer data on a Best Western hotel PMS system. Best Western claims that the only customer data lost was for the hotel only and effected only 10 people. Where as the Sunday Herald paper in Scotland is claiming that the hacker potentially stole the personal data of millions of people from the 1,300 plus Best Western hotels in Europe.

Regardless of the exact numbers of lost data, data security concerns have to be at the top of mind of hoteliers. We collect a lot of data when we book reservations. Some people would say that we ask for everything but the name of the guest's first born child. There have been efforts to minimize credit card access in these same reservation and PMS systems. It also goes to show why the IT guys keep a close watch on these systems.

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