A 2018 Cyber Attack on Marriott which disclosed data of more than 339 million guest records has now earned a penalty of £99 million from the British data watchdog. A statement issued on Tuesday by UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says that its the second major penalty issued by the watchdog in two days- following a £183 million fine on British Airways.
Market analysts suggest that the penalty imposed by the ICO will surely show its impact on the acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
“As business organizations are accountable for the theft of data it will show due diligence on corporate acquisitions made in future”, said Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner.
Since Marriott has fully cooperated with the data watchdog to the fullest, the ICO has permitted the company to make an appeal against the penalty by this month end.
Meanwhile, a ransomware attack made on the database of a California based healthcare provider has come into light early today when Shingle Springs Health and Wellness Center (SSHWC) has made it official that the Protected Health Information(PHI) of its 21,513 patients was compromised in a ransomware attack which took place on April 7, 2019.
The variant of ransomware involved in the incident is yet to be known. But sources reporting from the health care services provider say that they succeeded in retrieving the data with the help of data backups.
Information such as health insurance data, names of patients, social security numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, diagnosis codes and the amount paid was revealed in the cyber attack.
