Trump Hotel Collection Breach Confirmed; Malware Blamed

It’s hotel breach week, apparently.  Along with Hilton Worldwide earlier in the week, The Trump Hotel Collection is confirming a potential security breach that affects Point of Sale (POS) systems several of its locations.  According to the company’s website, the following hotels were affected:

• Trump International Chicago
• Trump National Doral
• Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas
• Trump International New York
• Trump International Toronto
• Trump International Waikiki
• Trump SoHo New York

Malware is being blamed. It affects customers who stayed at the hotels between May 19 and June 2 of this year. The Information retrieved has not been determined conclusively, but it is suspected to have included cardholder names, card numbers, expiration dates, and the CCV numbers.

There are conflicting reports about just which ones were affected, but the statement on the Trump Hotel Collection website (in the Data Security section) does list all the above locations as affected.  Therefore, if you used payment cards at any of those Trump hotels, take some extra time to review payment card charges. With online banking access these days, it is easy to check it and the faster and easier it will be to remedy any fraudulent charges. This is a good habit to start, regardless of whether or not you have been the victim of any data breach. However, since the United States leads the world in credit card fraud, it is likely that you have been. So, watch your statements and report anything suspicious to your financial institution right away.

The Trump Hotel Collection, as is required by law now, is offering one year of credit monitoring services at no charge for those affected. Check the company’s website for information on how to get this started.

There are many reasons to have online access to your financial accounts. However, if you educate yourself about the risks and take a few precautions to prevent your login credentials from being stolen, that access can be a great tool for preventing and efficiently dealing with fraud if and when cyber criminals get your card numbers.

• Create a unique login combination that is not used for any other account.

• Create a strong password or passphrase that consists of at least eight characters with upper and lower case letters, at least one number and at least one special character. It should not be easy to guess or a dictionary word. It also should not include personal information about your pets, you, or someone close to you. This information is easy to If find out on social media.

• If the issuing institution offers multi-factor authentication, use it.

• Don’t give your login credentials to anyone, even if they claim they are from the bank.

• When logging into your online account, make sure the site is secure. It may have a lock icon in the address bar or at the bottom of the screen. It should also be preceded by “https://.”

• Avoid logging into secure accounts from public WiFi access points. Often, these are compromised.  It’s better to wait until you can use a privately secured connection or to use the data access from your mobile device.

The Trump Hotel breach was originally reported as suspected in July of this year, but the company just confirmed it this week. The malware has been removed from the systems. Since independent investigators were not able to confidently confirm what information was taken, an investigation is continuing.