Trump Hotels says hackers may have accessed payment data in real-time

By Erin Ayers on October 7, 2015

trumphotelAfter reports surfaced in July that several Trump Hotel Collection properties may have experienced a data breach, the retail organization this week confirmed that hackers may have been able to access payment card information between May 2014 and June 2015.

“Between May 19, 2014, and June 2, 2015, we believe that there may have been unauthorized malware access to some of the computers that host our front desk terminals and payment card terminals in our restaurants, gift shops and other point-of-sale purchase locations at some hotels managed by the Trump Hotel Collection. For those customers that used credit or debit cards to make purchases during this time, we believe that the malware may have affected payment card data including payment card account number, card expiration date and security code,” the organization said in a statement. While Trump Hotels does not store credit or debit card information, the investigation found that the malware might have accessed the data while being processed in real-time.

However, Trump Hotels said that an independent forensic investigation found no evidence that customer data had actually been removed from the systems. Notification of the breach went out “as a precaution,” according to the hotel chain. The affected properties were Trump SoHo New York, Trump National Doral, Trump International New York, Trump International Chicago, Trump International Waikiki, Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas, and Trump International Toronto.

“Upon becoming aware of the potential incident, we immediately hired an independent forensic investigator, notified the FBI and financial institutions. In addition, we immediately removed the malware and are currently taking additional steps to further secure our systems,” said Trump Hotels, which is also offering a year of fraud resolution and identity protection services from Experian to affected customers.

erin.ayers@zywave.com'

Erin is the managing editor of Advisen’s Front Page News. She has been covering property-casualty insurance since 2000. Previously, Erin served as editor-in-chief of The Standard, New England’s Insurance Weekly. Erin is based in Boston, Mass. Contact Erin at [email protected].