Hyatt Hacked

This morning, I woke to a beautiful Christmas Eve day …. except, instead of sugar plums, reports that Hyatt’s website has been hacked danced in my head.  So far, I’ve seen this report from Inside Flyer and this from CNN Money, though I’m sure every blog and it’s mother will be posting on this. (I haven’t even looked at the Boarding Area website yet!)

It looks like Hyatt may have known about this for some time, and I wonder why it was not announced to the public sooner. The extent of the attack is not clear yet, only that there has been an attack. Was this the real reason for what was called the system upgrade this past week?  Did the breach extend to Hyatt’s Gift Cards and Certificates?

Hyatt has posted this on its Website:

Dear Hyatt Guest,

Protecting customer information is of critical importance to Hyatt, and we take the security of your payment card data very seriously. We recently identified malware on computers that operate the payment processing systems for Hyatt-managed locations. As soon as we discovered the activity, we launched an investigation and engaged leading third-party cyber security experts.

The investigation is ongoing, and updates will be posted here at www.hyatt.com/protectingourcustomers. We have taken steps to strengthen the security of our systems, and customers can feel confident using payment cards at Hyatt hotels worldwide.

As always, we encourage customers to review their payment card account statements closely and to report any unauthorized charges to their card issuer immediately. Payment card rules generally provide that cardholders are not responsible for unauthorized charges that are timely reported.

Customers may call 1-877-218-3036 (U.S. and Canada) or +1-814-201-3665 (International) from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST if they have questions.

Sincerely,

Chuck Floyd
Global President of Operations
Hyatt Hotels Corporation

These are the phone numbers to call:  1-877-218-3036 (U.S. and Canada) or +1-814-201-3665 (International) from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST

I am on the Hyatt website a lot.  A LOT.  I keep a Chase Hyatt Visa on record with Hyatt. I use it to hold my reservations – though ultimately I often pay with Hyatt Gift Cards. I checked my credit card account this morning and  there were no unauthorized charges on it. Nevertheless, out of caution, I called Chase and they canceled my card and are issuing a new card.

Will that affect my reservations held with that card?

And now my friends, I wish you a wonderful day and holiday.  I’m going out for a run.