It appears a number of Hilton Hotels properties have been part of a payments breach, Krebs on Security reported, citing multiple banking sources.
The report indicates that banks have traced credit card fraud to attacks linked to hotel point-of-sale terminals in gift shops and restaurants. Hilton confirmed to Krebs that it is investigating the banks’ claims. This story dates back to August when reports initially surfaced about a breach at a brick-and-mortar location. This alert indicated that some Visa cards may have been compromised.
While Hilton’s name was not included in that initial report, it now appears that POS terminals at Hilton properties were likely compromised, which included Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn and Suites and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts.
Hilton provided Krebs with a written statement about the breach allegations.
“Hilton Worldwide is strongly committed to protecting our customers’ credit card information,” a spokesperson wrote. “We have many systems in place and work with some of the top experts in the field to address data security. Unfortunately, the possibility of fraudulent credit card activity is all too common for every company in today’s marketplace. We take any potential issue very seriously, and we are looking into this matter.”
The reported fraud is allegedly related to compromised POS devices in franchised restaurants, coffee shops and gift shops that are in the Hilton properties and not with the guest reservation system at the hotel’s front desk services. As of when this report was published, it’s not known how large this potential breach could be or how many Hilton properties were impacted.
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