Confusion reigns over Best Western data security breach

Conflicting stories are hitting the security headlines today about an alleged breach of computer systems run by the Best Western hotel chain.

According to a report by Iain S Bruce of the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald, names, home addresses, credit card details, telephone numbers and other personal information has been stolen from Best Western’s computer network by a gang of hackers.

According to the report, an Indian hacker planted a Trojan horse on one of the firm’s computers which stole usernames and passwords, giving the gang access to sensitive data which could be used for the purposes of identity theft. The Sunday Herald claims that the incident scooped up the details of guests who had stayed at a Best Western hotel since 2007, creating a potential total of eight million…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.