Marriott says unauthorized access to millions of passport numbers during data security breach

BETHESDA, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Marriott says fewer guest records than originally thought were accessed during a data security breach reported last year but did confirm there was unauthorized access to millions of passport numbers during the incident.

In an update on Friday, Marriott said 383 million records was the "upper boundary" for the total number of guest records they believe were involved in the incident announced in November 2018. They originally said private information of up to 500 million guests may have been involved.

"This does not, however, mean that information about 383 million unique guests was involved, as in many instances, there appear to be multiple records for the same guest," Marriott said in a statement published online Friday. "We concluded with a fair degree of certainty that information for fewer than 383 million unique guests was involved, although the company is not able to quantify that lower number because of the nature of the data in the database."

In addition, Marriott said approximately 5.25 million unique unencrypted passport numbers and approximately 20.3 million encrypted passport numbers were involved in the breach.

The hotel chain said 8.6 million unique payment card numbers, all of which were encrypted, were also involved.

Anyone who believes they were affected by the breach can CLICK HERE for more information.