Marriott confirms another data breach at one of its hotels

BALTIMORE - Marriott International has confirmed yet another data breach exposing the company's business files. The hackers reportedly stole around 20 gigabytes of data from a computer at the hotel's Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Baltimore, Maryland.

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According to a statement from a company spokesperson, the hack was part of a ransom attempt against the company. The statement says that a "threat actor contacted the company in an extortion attempt, which Marriott did not pay."

The statement goes on to say that after an investigation, the company determined that the "information accessed primarily contained non-sensitive internal business files regarding the operation of the property." 

The statement also indicates that Marriott's core network was not accessed by the hackers, and that most of the information accessed came from former associates of the hotel. In total, Marriott says it will be notifying between 300 and 400 individuals about the breach.

The statement did not say when the breach happened.

READ MORE: Marriott says database security breach may have exposed info of 500 million guests

You can read the full statement from the company below:

"Marriott International is aware of a threat actor who used social engineering to trick one associate at a single Marriott hotel into providing access to the associate’s computer.  The threat actor did not gain access to Marriott’s core network.  Our investigation determined that the information accessed primarily contained non-sensitive internal business files regarding the operation of the property. The incident was contained to a short period of time. Marriott identified and was investigating the incident before the threat actor contacted the company in an extortion attempt, which Marriott did not pay. The company is preparing to notify 300-400 individuals regarding the incident. Marriott has also notified law enforcement and is supporting their investigation."

This incident marks the latest data breach in recent years to hit Marriott International, which is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

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In 2018, it was revealed that hackers stole information on as many as 500 million guests of the hotel empire over a four-year period, obtaining credit card and passport numbers and other personal data in one of the largest data breaches in history. The company again reported another breach in 2020, when hackers reportedly accessed personal information for about 5.2 million of the hotel's guests worldwide, including names, addresses, phone numbers and loyalty account information.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.