Numerous units of the well-known hotel chain, Mandarin Oriental Hotels, in the US and Europe, were targeted by hackersin order to steal customer financial information, using malware that bypassed detection by the security software protecting the hotel chain's network.
The luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotels in the US, Europe and Asia learned of the network security breach from an external source. An investigation into the matter was launched, revealing that an attacker was able to access credit card through the payments program.
The official statement, from Mandarin Oriental, does not mention the number of units at risk or the names of the hotels, but informs that the incident does not affect units located in Asia.
Security researcher and bloggerBrian Krebs, who found evidence from sources in the banking industry, said the attack may have affected, if not all Mandarin hotels in the US, at least those located in Boston, Florida, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, and Washington.
Once the breach was confirmed, a team of security experts was called in to remove the malware from the systems.
The company's statement doesn't provide many details at this time, and the number of customers affected by the incident, as well as the time frame over which the breach occurred, are currently unknown. However, the same sources tell Krebs that the network breach may have occurred shortly before Christmas 2014.
Anyone who has stayed at a Mandarin Oriental hotel since that time is advised to monitor their credit card activity and notify their bank if they notice any unauthorized activity on their account.
