Cybersecurity

Assignment Overview

Overview
One of the responsibilities placed on managers in today’s On-Demand Economy is that of ensuring that the business processes are held to a high degree of cybersecurity. Because the concept of data-on-demand is an operational necessity that places the enterprise’s and customers’ resources at risk to potential fraudulent hacks, all employees, including those that sit in the loftiest of office spaces, must be trained, made aware of the various methods and practices that can lead to vulnerabilities, and held to very high standards of compliance with standard cybersecurity practices.

One only has to review a synopsis of the previous month’s media headlines to find one or more high-level cyberattacks that were implemented by black hat offenders on well-known enterprises. Millions and millions of dollars have been lost due to such malicious activities perpetrated by cunning adversaries.

Case Study Assignment
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Conduct research on a recent threat or attack on a government agency, military organization, or corporate enterprise. Present data that describes the type of threat, the degree of harm caused by the threat, and describe who or what entity the perpetrator(s) might have been that could benefit from such action. Give details on solutions that might have prevented the exploit and could be utilized to assist in mitigating or eliminating that type of cyber threat in the future.

Follow the guidelines in the Case Study Requirements (check the additional materials section).

ANSWER

Marriot Cyber Security Attack

Abstract

Marriot International is an American globally spread hospitality firm that franchises and controls a broad range of hotels. The company operates in more than 20 brands worldwide. The flagship of the company is their full-service resorts and hotels. The company prides itself on the brand name and quality of service. The main aim of this paper was to describe cyberattack, the degree of harm that was caused by the threat, and what the perpetrators could benefit from such action. The paper focused on Marriot hotels and the major data breach that occurred in January 2020 where they lost data for more than 5.2 million clients. The paper has also given details on solutions that might have been used to prevent any form of cyber threat in the future such as encryption of sensitive data, software update, and developing security centric culture.

Marriot Cyber Security Attack

In the second most major data breach in two years, Marriot exposed that they had lost personal infrmation belonging to more than 5.2 million hotel guests. The hotel claims that this information was fraudulently accessed in 2020 by cybercriminals. The personal details that were accessed include the addresses, names, phone numbers, airline loyalty information as well as dates of birth (Aryee, 2020). According to the firm, the guest data was obtained in mid-January through the use of login credentials of personnel at one of the franchised properties. They were altered about the incidence at the end of February where they changed all the logins and supporting authorities took action to check on the data breach. Marriot’s management believes that the data breach did not influence their Marriot Bonvoy account, PINS and passwords, emails, credit card payments, passport information, and the driver’s license.

The cyberattack happened at a time when the company like much other hospitality and travel companies had laid off many employees due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This data breach was one of the largest known data breaches that the company had experiences in history. Considerably, it could be considered an error or mistake to suffer a single data breach but suffering two seems like carelessness.

Considerably, the cybercriminals focus on chain hotels both to sell the personal information of the guest as well as track the transactions and travels of government officials, business leaders, and intelligence groups (Paraskevas, 2020). For instance, the selling of personal data has been a lucrative business since the hackers sell the data to other criminals and profit from the stolen data. They have also used stole personal details to access bank accounts where they steal money using the details or even use credit cards to make payments.

There are various ways that the Marriot Hotel can avoid data breaches. One of the ways to prevent data breaches is establishing a security-centric culture from the top level. This will ensure that everyone within the organization is responsible for securing client’s information. The company should also be proactive in adopting innovations concerning customer data security (Aryee, 2020). They need to constantly check and try new developments to stay ahead of the hackers. The company should also consider updating and patching software as soon as there are upgrades. Encryption of data has been effective in preventing data theft. Therefore, it is important to concentrate on high-grade encryption of all the company’s sensitive data. Employees also need to be educated on the most effective security practices and encourage to use strong credentials that will facilitate better utilization of cybersecurity practices.

In summation, Cyberthreat has been a malicious act that seeks to damage, disrupt and steal data. Hackers have relied on different hacking techniques to access sensitive personal and organizational data. Marriot has experienced two cyberattacks with the latest one in 2020 affecting more than 5.2 million clients. Therefore, organizations need to focus on securing personal data through various approaches that will facilitate cybersecurity practices.

References

Arcuri, M. C., Gai, L., Ielasi, F., & Ventisette, E. (2020). Cyber attacks on hospitality sector: stock market reaction. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology.

Aryee, D. (2020). Cybersecurity Threats to the Hotel Industry and Mitigation Strategies (Doctoral dissertation, Utica College).

Paraskevas, A. (2020). Cybersecurity in travel and tourism: a risk-based approach. Handbook of e-Tourism, 1-24.