11:45 AM
Hotel Company Investigates Data Breach, Card Fraud
White Lodging Services, a hospitality company that manages 168 hotels in 21 states -- under franchises from Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, and Westin -- is investigating reports that it suffered a data breach that lasted from March 2013 until the end of the year.
Word of the breaches first surfaced Friday when security journalist Brian Krebs reported that unnamed card processors had tied fraud involving hundreds of credit cards to a number of Marriott properties operated by White Lodging Services, which is based in Merrillville, Ind. The affected hotels were located in Austin, Texas, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Louisville, Ky., and Tampa, Fla., among other cities, reported Krebs.
White Lodging confirmed Saturday that it's investigating the reported data breach. "An investigation is in progress, and we will provide meaningful information as soon as it becomes available," White Lodge spokeswoman Kathleen Quilligan told The Times of Northwest Indiana.