Marriott's Response to Security Breach at Epsilon

Marriott International Statement as of April 6, 2011; 10 a.m. (EDT)

Marriott International, Inc. was recently notified by Epsilon, a marketing vendor used by numerous companies, including Marriott, to manage customer emails, that an unauthorized third party gained access to a number of Epsilon’s accounts, including Marriott’s email list.

Marriott International has a long-standing commitment to protecting the privacy of the personal information that our guests entrust to us.  We take the security of information in our possession and control very seriously.  We have sent email notices to all customers who may be affected by this incident.

Tampering with systems by unauthorized persons is, of course, an illegal act.  This incident was reported by Epsilon to a law enforcement agency and is under investigation.

The unauthorized person(s) had access to names and email addresses only, not to sensitive customer information, such as physical addresses, point balances, account logins and passwords, credit card information or other personal data.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

Media questions regarding this statement should be directed to Marriott Global Communications
at  +1 (301) 380-7770.

Comments

[Christina]

Marriott does everything in their power to protect their guests and their personal information even if through a third party. They always have and always will focus on their guests as that is their priority first and foremost. It is not that Marriott cannot handle marketing: Marriott handles plenty on their own. Marriott's guests and customers always come first. They always have and always will. Thank you to Marriott for taking the initiative in looking out for their guests and customers best interests. Unfortunately, no system is fail proof not even the governments and Marriott nor any other company had any control over this breach; however, Marriott has spoken up for their customers and guests. Not all companies can say the same.

[don]

My question to Marriott is, given the size of Marriott, why would you trust a third party to have this information to start with. Are you telling that you could not handle marketing and sending out emails internally. Now I have to question every email I get from Marriott and assume it is compromied. Now I will be deleting all emails from Marriott so their use of email as a marketing tool is now shot with me.

[Elaine]

Marriott is one of the companies effected by this massive breach that responded quickly by posting info. for their customers. While Walgreens (after its 2nd major security breaches) has done NOTHING so far to calm answer to their customer's concerns.