Action taken in wake of Marriott cyber attack

Action has been taken in the wake of the massive Marriott cyber attack that was revealed last year, both here in the U.K. and in the U.S.

In the U.K., victims may be entitled to make a claim for data breach compensation if you were one of the 500 million people affected. If you’re a resident in England or Wales, we can represent you for the case. A claim is separate to any enforcement action and fines that may be issue by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office). Those fines alone could end up in the hundreds of millions.

As well as claims and fines, testimonies and apologies took place last month as well. Here’s the latest.

Testimonies over the Marriott cyber attack

Last month, Arne Sorenson (Chief Executive of Marriott International Inc) reportedly appeared before a U.S. Senate committee to testify over the Marriott cyber attack. Although the U.K. government often doesn’t come down hard on data breach companies like the U.S. does, these testimonies can be insightful across this side of the pond as well.

An apology has also reportedly been issued as part of a written testimony as well. Some 500 million people were affected, and some of the data that was exposed included payment card information and passport details.

Some victims of the breach have been put at an immediate and serious risk of fraud.

The Marriott cyber attack was a preventable incident

One of the biggest talking points from the Marriott cyber attack was that it was a preventable incident. On top of that, it took years before the breach was discovered.

Really, it should have been identified far sooner.

It also showed just how vulnerable big businesses can  be to monumental cyber attacks. People may think that bigger businesses can afford to better protect themselves, and will do so, but history shows this isn’t the case. Just look at the British Airways data breach, or the Equifax attack, or the TalkTalk incident. These are big, big companies, and they were hit incredibly hard by (in some cases, simple) cyber attacks.

It’s time that the boards and the bodies in charge wake up and face the reality that cyber attacks aren’t going away. Protecting the data they hold must be a priority for organisations around the world.