Was Trump Hacked?

photo: wikimedia.org

According to Krebs on Security’s sources, reports have surfaced that the Trump Hotel Collection’s credit card systems may have been breached. And, if true, this isn’t the first time. Krebs reports that, “if confirmed, this would be the second such breach at the Trump properties in less than a year.”

Krebs further reports that the Trump Collection is currently investigating the claims, after potential patterns of fraud on customer credit cards were observed, suggesting a potential hack of the Trump Collection’s properties. Trump Collection’s spokespersons indicate that it is “committed to safeguarding all guests’ personal information and will continue to do so vigilantly.”

Whether the Trump Collection was definitively hacked, and if so, the extent of the breach, remain unknown at the moment.  But, in this regard, the Trump Collection is in good company, as it seems that nearly every hotel chain has been hacked in recent days, months or years.

According to Travis Smith, senior security research engineer at the cyber security firm Tripwire:

All businesses which process credit cards are at risk of being targeted by cyber criminals. Most malware used to steal credit card data must both install the malicious code as well as send the stolen data to an Internet location owned by the attacker. Businesses which have point- of-sale machines should review their cyber security posture to limit the amount of change on these devices to reduce the risk of an infection.  In the case of infection, Internet and other local area network traffic should also be reduced down to only the most critical amount necessary to operate their business.  If a point-of-sale machine were to be infected, this would reduce the likelihood that the credit card data can be exfiltrated out to the attacker. 

Stay tuned.