Your personal information may have been exposed.. again.
500 million guests of Marriott's Starwood division had their accounts hacked.
Business data breaches have almost become routine as big companies continue to drop the ball on keeping your information safe. So, it's up to all of us to protect ourselves.
In this breach, credit card numbers may have been compromised since 2014.
Go back and check your statements from that time. Look for charges you don't remember. Dispute them and close the account.
Passport numbers were also possibly taken. We checked with the State Department.
They tell me they have systems in place to prevent fraud and no one can "obtain copies of a U.S. Citizen's records by using a passport number."
Also, strongly consider freezing your account with the credit bureaus. It's free and the best way to keep crooks from stealing identities and opening credit in your name.
You can lift the freeze when applying for credit.
Marriott says it's offering those affected a free year of webwatcher to see if your data shows up anywhere.
Hacks happen. You can't stop them.
You can protect yourself and make sure bad guys can't use the information.
