Social Engineering Attack Used To Hack Marriott Hotel Chain

Marriott International confirmed Tuesday that unknown criminal hackers broke into its computer networks and then attempted to extort the company, marking the latest in a string of successful cyberattacks against one of the world’s biggest hotel chains.

The incident, first reported early Tuesday by databreaches.net, allegedly occurred roughly a month ago and was the work of a group claiming to be ‘an international group working for about five years,’ according to the site.

A Marriott spokesperson told CyberScoop that the company ‘is aware of a threat actor who used social engineering to trick one associate at a single Marriott hotel into providing access to the associate’s computer.’

The access ‘only occurred for a short amount of time on one day. Marriott identified and was investigating the incident before the threat actor contacted the company in an extortion attempt, which Marriott did not pay.’

The company has notified law enforcement, the spokesperson said.